Chicken Tortellini Soup

Some of you are probably thinking chicken tortellini soup sounds delicious. And some of you are probably thinking, but you don't eat chicken. If you're new around here you may not know that I am a vegetarian. But it's just a choice I've made and not something I preach about. The rest of my family happily eats meat and I'm just fine with that. So the reason I'm even talking about this personal fact is to share that this recipe is easily made for both meat and non-meat eaters. 

I chose to make this soup for a few reasons. There were 4 cooked chicken breasts in my fridge, I only need a few additional ingredients and it was a chilly + rainy first day of September. Cooking the chicken obviously requires some additional prep if you do not already have some ready but vegetarian part of the soup only took about 5 minutes. The recipe I used as my base calls for the chicken in the soup but making it separately allows for non meat eaters to enjoy it as well. If you're a family of chicken eaters then go ahead and follow the directions for cooking the chicken into the soup. 

It's been awhile since I made a crockpot soup but last fall and winter I tried my hand at a variety of recipes. When I think of cooking in a crockpot I think of an easy, minimal prep, let the gadget do the cooking kind of meal. But I found that so many recipes call for lot of chopping and sautéing veggies before tossing them into the crockpot. This recipe just requires a few minutes of cutting and then everything goes into the crockpot for hands free cooking. I shredded the chicken for my meat eaters to add into the finished soup and ate it straight up myself. We all agreed it was delicious and will definitely be on rotation for fall meals. 

Adapted from this recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 1½ pounds boneless chicken breast
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 cups low sodium vegetable broth
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, or more to taste
• 1 teaspoon garlic pepper
• 2 cups cheese tortellini
• sea salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Add all of the ingredients to a slow cooker except for the tortellini.
2. Cook on low for 6 hours.
3. Remove the cooked chicken from the slow cooker and shred or cube and add back to the slow cooker. (or cook chicken separately then shred)
4. Add in the tortellini and cook for 15 minutes or until they are cooked all the way through.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.