Recipe Blog Hop.....Crockpot Tomato Tortellini Soup

I'm so excited to participate with some great bloggers in a recipe swap and blog hop. It's been awhile since I've joined in on a blog hop. This should be fun. If you are coming over from Kellyann's blog, This Blonde's Shopping Bag, thank you! I appreciate it. When you're done checking out what I made, head over to Dani's blog, Family.Love.Inspiration to see what she made. At the end I'll list all the bloggers who participated. Be sure to visit them as well. Thank you to Leslie from Once Upon A Time and Happily Ever After for hosting and putting this together. You can also check out my spring recipe swap we did, here. 

This time we're all about comfort food in the form of soups, stews or chili's. I love fall and winter because I love making soups, and other yummy comfort foods. I was excited for this swap because I have been making a new to us soup that has been a huge hit and is super easy. A co-worker made it and told me to try a bite. I was sold! The recipe comes from the blog, Plain Chicken. It is adaptable to adding things if you'd like, which I did yesterday (see the end of the recipe) when I made it. It's sure to be a favorite in your kitchen. 

Ingredients:

1 lb italian sausage 

1 (32 oz) container chicken broth

1 (28 oz) can petite diced tomatoes

2 (10.75 cans tomato soup (I personally like using Pacific Tomato soup)

2 (8oz containers chive and onion cream cheese spread, softened)

1 (18 oz ) pkg. refrigerated cheese tortellini

1. In a skillet, cook the sausage until browned. Transfer it to a crockpot. 

2. Add broth, tomatoes and tomato soup. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours

3.  Stir in cream cheese and cheese tortellini. Cover and cook on High for 15 to 30 minutes, until tortellini is cooked. 

I have not actually done it in the crockpot. It is such a quick meal, I can have it done in about 30 minutes. So my adaptations to this recipe when I made it last night. While the sausage browned, I made a garlic/parsley butter and spread on sourdough bread to broil in the oven. 

**My family is Italian, but get this, I'm not a fan of Italian sausage. I think it's the fennel I don't like. So I just buy a plain sausage and add garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasonings, though yesterday I added the mama mia's herb blend (it is amazing) from S.A.L.T. Sisters.

**I brown my sausage in a large soup pan and leave it in there after browning and add all the remaining ingredients. Then allow the tortellini to cook til just barely past al dente (I don't want it falling apart). 

**I love Pacific Brand Organic Tomato soup. 

**Yesterday I realized I didn't have the cream cheese and chives so I stopped off at Grocery outlet, however they only had a vegan version (which I'm not opposed to) so I grabbed it...and actually just now realized I only grabbed one instead of two and it was just fine. The flavor was just as amazing as if I'd used regular cream cheese. 

**I had some chopped kale I had placed in the freezer and dumped that all in the soup as well. It will be a regular addition. 

I hope you make it and enjoy!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Below are the other bloggers participating.

Penny from Penny's Passion 

Jo from And Anyways

Lisa from Musings of a Middle-Aged Mom

Kellyann from This Blonde's Shopping Bag

Kirstin (Me) from Loving Life

Dani from Family.Love.Inspiration

Michael Ann from Out and Back

Bettye from Fashion Schlub

Gale from All the Little Bits

Liz from Closet Play Image

Robin from Hello I'm 50ish

Sue from Women over 50 Living Well 

Leslie from Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After

There are four other gals, Gina, Mary, Anne, and Vanessa who participated but don't have blogs. Below is where you can find their recipes:

Gina: Facebook Page

Mary: Will post to Leslies FB page: Once Upon A Time

Anne: 

Vanessa: 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin