Tortellini Soup With Chicken and Spinach

Looking for a delicious soup that is quick and easy to make? The idea for this soup came from my sister's friend. But as with most things I make, I can't leave well enough alone. Having made a few changes, here is the simple recipe for a great meal in a bowl.  This is so good, it's a must try!

Tortellini Soup with Chicken and Spinach
1 lb. boneless chicken breast tenders
2 32 oz. cartons of chicken broth
2 cups water
1 large onion, peeled and left whole
1 clove of garlic, peeled and left whole
1 pkg. fresh spinach
3 or 4 carrots, shredded or sliced thin, your choice
1 pkg. (I used a 9 oz. pkg.)  tortellini

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a frying pan. Season the chicken tenders with your favorite seasoning. Today I used Emeril's Original Essence. It's a good all purpose seasoning to use for just about anything. Season the chicken liberally and brown it well on both sides. Remove to a plate to cool.

In a large soup pot, pour in the two cartons of chicken broth and water, add the whole onion and garlic clove, and the sliced or shredded carrots, cover, cook slowly and allow the onion and garlic to become soft. In the meantime, shred the cooled chicken into bite sized pieces.

When the onion and garlic are nice and soft, remove and discard them. The idea here is to flavor the broth but not have any pieces of onion or garlic floating around in your finished soup. Add the shredded chicken and spinach. Give it a gentle stir, cover and let it simmer through until the spinach is all wilted, just a few minutes. Boil the tortellini separately and set aside.  Some of the Emeril's Essence will come off the chicken and will flavor the soup such that you won't have to add any extra salt, pepper or any other seasonings. How easy is that?

When you are ready to serve, place as many tortellini in each bowl as you like, then ladle the soup over the top of the tortellini and offer a sprinkling of Parmesan if you like.  From start to finish you can have this on the table in less than an hour.  This is a keeper.

Note - I originally dropped the tortellini into the soup and cooked them along with the spinach. It was delicious, but the next day my small tortellini had grown to the size of small donuts!  LOL!  They soaked up quite a lot of the liquid.  Unless you think you'll be serving the entire recipe, it might be best to cook them separately and add them to the soup when you're about to eat it.