Soup's On

Daddy-O worked outside all last week. New fences are being built around the pasture next to our house. Cows must be fed every day. And it was a cold and windy week. As I've stated before he is not a soup lover—unless it's really cold out. It was definitely a week for soup.

My young friend Holly gave me this recipe months ago. She is a librarian at our local library where we get together to knit weekly. Well, I lost it and had to ask her for the recipe again. I'm glad I asked. This is really good. And it's easy. Lately, seems like I'm only looking for the easy recipes. I keep cooked chicken in the freezer, so that made this a quick lunch.

The most time consuming part was slicing the spinach. Stack the leaves, then with a sharp knife, slice the stack crosswise into thin "ribbons." I did about half of an 8-oz. bag and decided that was enough.

The next time I make this, I will add an onion, a carrot and a stalk of celery to the broth when I start the recipe and let it simmer as I slice the spinach. Remove the onion, carrot and celery before you continue with the recipe. That would give a little more depth to the flavor to my boxed broth. I'm sure homemade stock would be even better, but I'm more likely to make this soup if I can use the boxed broth. I know fresh Parmesan would be better, but I didn't have any this time.

So what did Daddy-O think of this soup? When he saw it, he said he felt like he was in a fancy restaurant. He had three bowls the first day for lunch. And the next day when I was gone, he heated up soup again. He kept telling me how good it was. Thank you, Holly, for sharing this recipe.

 ITALIAN STYLE CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

8 cups homemade chicken stock (I used 2 boxes of broth)
8-oz. cheese tortellini (dried or refrigerated)
1 cup of cooked chicken (I'm sure I used more)
8-oz. bag flat leaf spinach, thinly sliced (I used about half the bag)
salt & freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley (I didn't have any)
freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I only had the green canister in the fridge)

Place stock or broth in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the tortellini and cook as directed on package. Use the lesser time given. Add the chicken and spinach and cook for 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with parsley and Parmesan cheese.