Meatless Monday: Fresh Spinach Tomato and Garlic Tortellini Soup

The Manfriend and I enjoyed this for dinner last week and it's going into our regular rotation, especially looking forward to chilly fall and winter evenings: Fresh Spinach Tomato and Garlic Tortellini Soup.

This was a super quick fix, but because the tortellini gets soft quick, I don't recommend it for an all day Crockpot dish.

(Image via CookingClassy.com)

I shared the recipe on Facebook a few days before actually making it and got a lot of great responses, including a recommendation to buy the smaller package of tortellini as the 20 oz. was enough to feed an army. Well placed, seeing as how we are a dinner for two. (I did forget to half the rest of the ingredients, including the water and stock, and everything still turned out wonderfully, so adjust as you see fit.)

I had the staples like EVOO, salt and pepper on hand and the grocery bill for this was less than $10. Save yourself some time and buy canned tomatoes that are already peeled. I really couldn't taste any difference and should have saved my self the effort in blanching and peeling.

Enjoy this tasty dish and toss in some mushrooms if you're feeling adventurous!

Manfriend Meals: Meatless Monday Recipes

The manfriend requested all of these recipes separately, but I thought they'd make a great meal together:

• Farfalle with Mushrooms and Spinach
• Balsamic Roasted Carrots

I made the farfalle dish as the main entree, with the balsamic carrots on the side, green beans, and wheat dinner rolls.

The verdict?

He loved it all!

Especially the carrots.

My manfriend is a great sport when it comes to occasionally dining vegetarian, but he did ask that sausage or another protein with a lot of flavor be added to the farfalle dish when we revisit it for dinner. While this vegetarian won't be adding sausage to her portion of the dish next time around, a small amount of a mushroom cream sauce or even roasted tomatoes would be tasty!