fall is here! time for soup!! {craft book month}

Thanks again Lindsay for asking me to join you on the hop!!

As I said yesterday we've moved and I have been having some issues getting our internet set up!  It's been quite frustrating to feel so disconnected, but I'm hoping to re-connect as soon as we get up and running again!  I also need to start sewing.

I quickly perused the other posters so far along the hop to see what everyone was sharing. Lindsay gave us some freedom with what type of craft books we could post from and even suggested we could share a recipe!  Yay!! So since I haven't gotten my sewing room in order yet (I haven't sewn a stitch in 6 weeks! I KNOW!!!) and because I do have people to feed, I thought I would share with you one of my favorite recipes!  And maybe it will be a nice change from all the sewing? Maybe?

Since fall is upon us this recipe is perfect.  Soup and a hearty bread are some of my favorite cold weather dinners. It's Tortellini, White Bean, and Spinach soup from Cooking Light's 1998 Annual Recipes.

Don't you want to dive into that right now?!  You will find the recipe as written below, but I wanted to share some things I do differently.  As written the recipe is vegetarian using vegetable stock and no meat.  However, I don't always have vegetable stock on hand, so I often use chicken broth.  And since there may be someone in my house (ahem, Mr. Louwho) who thinks it's not a meal without meat - I usually add some shredded chicken to the soup as well.

It calls for red bell pepper but I often use frozen mixed peppers because I usually have them on hand. I've used the dried tortellini in place of the fresh and usually just add extra broth or water to compensate, or you can cook it before hand and then throw it in.  In this photo you can see I also added shredded carrots!  Why not?  That's the beauty of soups - you can make them what you want them to be.  Just add more water/stock to reach the desired consistency!

A note about leftovers: The tortellini continues to soak up the liquid and become soggy while the soup dries out.  Sometimes I will just add the tortellini to our individual bowls and pour the rest on top if I know there will be some left over.  It can also be frozen this way, adding the tortellini in fresh when you are ready to eat!

I love serving this soup with some crusty bread like the one from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day or this Rosemary Peasant Bread from Make and Takes (where I usually use oregano instead of rosemary).

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups coarsely chopped spinach
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 (16-ounce) can navy beans, drained
• 2 cups Fresh Vegetable Broth or 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can vegetable broth
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
• 1 (14-ounce) can quartered artichoke hearts, drained
• 1 (9-ounce) package uncooked fresh cheese tortellini
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion, bell pepper, seasoning, and garlic; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add spinach and next 5 ingredients (spinach through artichokes); bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 2 minutes. Add tortellini; cook until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with cheese.

Bon Appétit!

I hope to be back soon with some more happenings!  Crossing my fingers we get hooked up with internet today!!  Be sure to check out this post with information on how to enter the giveaways!