Italian Tortellini Soup

Someone left a copy of this recipe on the table in the teacher's lounge. I have no idea who left it or where the recipe came from (so I can't credit the source). Update: Fellow teacher Suzanne walked into the computer lab to pick up her class and noticed the soup picture on my laptop. "Oh, that looks like a soup that I make from the Blue Cross Healthy Recipe Book. Mystery solved!. It sounded great for cold, snowy, icy weather (which is the forecast for this week). I did my own modifications to it, and used some products from Trader Joes. It turned out great, and I will get at least 3 or 4 lunches out of it this week!

ITALIAN TORTELLINI SOUP

1 TB olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped garlic (I'm lazy and use the prechopped kind in a jar.)
1 32 oz. carton of chicken broth
6 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 12 oz. package of tortellini
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1 14.5 oz. can chopped tomatoes
shredded Parmesan cheese

Cook the tortellini in boiling water according to package directions and drain. (Leave them a little under cooked so they don't get mushy in the soup.) Meanwhile, saute the garlic in the olive oil. Add chicken broth, spinach, tomatoes, and seasoning, and simmer. Add the drained tortellini. Heat until warmed. Serve with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. Serves 4.

Notes: I used the chopped spinach and broth from Trader Joes, as well as their tortellini that comes dried in the pasta section of the store. You could also use frozen or fresh tortellini. Get the smaller size so they are bit sized. I used Contadina diced Marinara tomatoes, which worked great, and had some onion already chopped into the mix. This is thick with tortellini - if you want a thinner soup add more broth or less tortellini!

Update 4/19/09 - I just made this again.  Used only half the package of tortellini and used fresh baby spinach which I coarsely chopped, about a half a package.  I didn't precook the tortellini and just let them simmer in the soup until soft and cooked and that seemed to work fine.