Cheese Tortelloni Soup with Artichoke Hearts & Spinach: Pantry Ease for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

It's the thick of August and normally my soups this time of year are lighter broth soups or cold soups but this week I was craving pasta and tomato sauce and since I had a coupon for fresh pasta, I decided to make Cheese Tortelloni Soup with Artichoke Hearts & Spinach.

What makes this soup good for summer is that it comes primarily from pantry or fridge ingredients and is really mostly about dumping it all together with a good mix of herbs and spices and it's ready pretty quickly, making time spent chopping or over the stove pretty minimal.

Cheese Tortelloni Soup with Artichoke Hearts & Spinach
By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen
(Makes About 6 Servings)

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp fennel seeds1/2 tsp celery seed
a pinch of red pepper flakes, or to taste 
1 jar good pasta sauce (I used a vodka sauce)
1 can diced, fire-roasted tomatoes + liquid
1 4 oz can of tomato sauce3-4 cups veggie broth
1 can artichoke hearts, halved or quartered 
4 cups baby spinach, chopped
1 (20 oz) family pack of 3-cheese tortelloni
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper 
fresh basil leaves & grated parmesan cheese to garnish

Heat a large soup pot over medium high heat. Add oil and then add the onion and cook about 7 minutes until translucent and soft. Add the garlic and all spices and cook another 1 to 2 minutes. Pour the tomato sauce into the pan and add the diced tomatoes and their juice, tomato sauce and broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes until flavors meld. 

Turn up heat to medium high and when soup is starting to bubble, add the artichoke hearts, spinach and tortelloni and cook about 5-6 minutes minutes, until tortelloni is done. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired. Ladle into bowls and top with fresh basil and a grating of Parmesan cheese. Enjoy.

Notes/Results: Creamy and flavorful but not two heavy, it's a very tasty soup. I like the tangy brine of the artichoke hearts and the cheesy filled pasta. If you don't have fresh basil you could stir in pesto for a little herby zip. Such a low-effort soup to make, I'm going to be very happy packing this for lunch this week. I would happily make it again. 

My friend and most loyal Souper Sunday's contributor is hanging out with me in the Souper Sundays kitchen, lets see what she brought!

Tina of Squirrel Head Manor shared these sandwich-ish treats, saying "An experiment I tried was using my dough cutter and made Empanadas with Black Beans, Cheese and Rice. I should have used pizza dough or bread dough but this came out visually pleasing.  

Thank you to Tina for joining in! 

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

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Have a happy, healthy week!