WFD: Chicken Tortellini Florentine Soup

As you might imagine, I'm an aficionado serio of any cooking programming on the telly. Bourdain (who I'm going to see and meet & greet in November. Yeah. I'm excited.) Any food thing on Bravo. The new and fab Cooking Channel. And of course, the granddaddy of them all -- Food Network.

True confession: I usually reserve my FN viewing for the true, pure cooking shows -- I'm not much for the specials and such, save for Chopped -- and that's mostly because i adore Ted Allen and Alex Guarnaschelli (with whom I sometimes chat on Twitter. But I digress. Again.) And The Collection is full of books from those who host shows on the network...

...Ina Garten. Alton Brown. Ina Garten. Mario Batali. Ina Garten. Emeril (does he even need a last name?). Did I mention Ina Garten?

However, there's one personality (note the word choice) I cannot stand, nay abide. That Sandra Lee. She bugs. And while I could rant on and on about her, I won't. I will say that I don't consider her a chef -- she's an assembler. She usually puts things together using a plethora of prepackaged stuff. Much of which isn't healthy or good-for-you. But...

OK. Stopping now.

That being said... every once in a while, on a busy night, I turn into an assembler, albeit one with a conscience. This soup is my favorite go-to when I need something for dinner and don't have a grocery list put together. I can remember all the elements on the fly. It goes together quickly and actually uses some fresh ingredients. I've adapted it a bit from the original recipe, which I found in a copy of Better Homes & Gardens on a trip to the in-laws. As with most chicken soups, it's always good for what ails you. Even if you're a temporary assembler.

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Chicken Tortellini Florentine Soup

(adapted from a Better Homes & Gardens recipe)

Ingredients

1-20oz. pkg. refrigerated 3-cheese tortellini
1 qt + 1 cup organic chicken broth
2-10oz. containers refrigerated light alfredo pasta sauce
1 whole rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 jar oil-packed dried tomato strips,drained
1 pkg. lightly packed packaged fresh baby spinach

juice of one lemon
parmesan cheese, shaved or shredded



Directions
In a 4 qt. pot, cook tortellini according to package directions. Drain; set aside.


In a dutch oven, combine broth and alfredo sauce. Stir in chicken, spinach and tomato strips. Heat till just boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered about 5 minutes.


Add cooked tortellini to soup. Cook 1 to 2 mins. to heat through. Squeeze lemon juice into soup; stir.


To serve, sprinkle with parmesan cheese.