I’ve been feeling a bit sickish recently…I don’t have a cold, but I’m certainly just not feeling all that great. So I figured I would make my favorite quick and easy soup to eat and blog it to share with you all. This soup comes together and is ready to eat within an hour. Unlike most soups, this doesn’t have a ton of broth since I’m not a huge fan of slurping a spoonful of liquid without any texture to it. It’s a very filling vegetarian soup that can easily be made vegan (see note at bottom of the post).

You start by dicing up half a yellow onion and a small carrot, adding it to a pot with olive oil and letting it cook until the onion is translucent.

Then you add your spices and minced garlic and let it cook together for a few more minutes before adding the broth and bringing it to a boil.

After letting the broth and seasoning boil together for a while, you add in kale and chickpeas (garbanzo beans) and let it cook together for a few more minutes. I like to use kale instead of spinach since it holds up better to boiling and reheating. You can use any type of kale that you want, but for this recipe I used Tuscan kale. If you don’t like the stems, feel free to remove them. I like to have the crunch of the stems for texture in my soup.

Add in your favorite tortellini from the refrigerated section of the grocery store and let it cook for a few more minutes. If you want to have meat in this soup, then you can use tortellini filled with chicken, or sausage, or prosciutto. Once they’re cooked, finish it off with some lemon juice and you’re done!

Kale and Tortellini Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ yellow onion, diced
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 3 small garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• ½ teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional if you want it spicy)
• 6 cups vegetable broth or stock
• 1 15oz can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
• 5 cups chopped kale
• 1 10oz packaged fresh tortellini
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• optional toppings of fresh grated Parmesan cheese, croutons

Steps:

1. Place olive oil, diced onion and carrots into a pot set over medium heat and cook until onions become translucent – approximately 5 to 8 minutes.
2. Add garlic, basil, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper (optional red pepper flakes too) into the pot and continue to cook for another 3 minutes.
3. Pour vegetable broth/stock into the pot. Keep the heat on medium and bring to a boil. Once boiling, put the lid on the pot and continue to let it boil for 15 minutes.
4. Remove the lid and add in the kale and chickpeas (garbanzo beans). Once the soup come back up to a boil, let it cook together with the lid off for 5 minutes.
5. Add in the fresh tortellini and boil in the broth for another 3 to 4 minutes (or according to directions on package for how long to boil tortellini).
6. Once the tortellini is tender, stir in the lemon juice. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Top your bowl with additional Parmesan cheese or croutons if desired.

Vegan Substitution Note: If you want to make this recipe vegan, substitute the tortellini for one cup of dry macaroni pasta. Boil for the amount of time as indicated by the directions on the box. You may need to add a touch more broth at the end due to absorption.