Weight Watchers Spinach & Tortellini Soup ♥

Weight Watchers Spinach & Tortellini Soup, another healthy soup ♥ A Veggie Venture. WW Friendly. Low Carb. Low Fat. Easily High Protein. Great for Meal Prep.
A simple vegetable soup enriched with fresh cheese tortellini and barely cooked fresh spinach, my adaptation of a tortellini and spinach soup from the WW app. Pick up a package of fresh pasta and a few vegetables, supper's on the table in a flash. It's slurpy delish!

A Year-Round Kitchen Staple, an Easy Weeknight Supper. Great for Meal Prep. Low Carb. Low Fat. Easily High Protein. Weight Watchers Friendly.

PS Yes, times are worrisome and uncertain. Some moments, it all seems dire. FYI I am collecting resources for dealing with the global pandemic at my food column Kitchen Parade, converting weekly posts called Seasonal Sundays to, ever since the start of the coronavirus three weeks ago, topics and ideas meaningful during this period of social distancing. (Most recently? Seasonal Sundays (Week 12) Mid March.) If you think these might help, please consider a free e-mail subscription. Take care, be well, hang in there ... )


A New Weight Watchers Soup!

Way-way back, A Veggie Venture first found its following (and perhaps its calling?) when members of Weight Watchers discovered my versions of the official Weight Watchers soups. Home cooks, dieting or not, still flock to these Weight Watchers soups, especially the Weight Watchers Zero Points Garden Vegetable Soup and its Mexican cousin, Weight Watchers Mexican Zero Points Soup. They are excellent low-carb, low-cal, all-vegetable soups ... definitely ones to make again and again.

Today say hello to a new Weight Watchers soup, all the quickly cooked vegetables plus the indulgence of plump cheese tortellini from the refrigerated section at the grocery. The hardest part about this soup? Finding the tortellini! Here's a hint. At least in my stores, fresh pasta isn't near the boxes of dried pasta, it's up front in a refrigerated section along with meal kits and other semi-prepared foods!

Unlike the other Weight Watchers vegetable soups, this one's not zero points. But because a small-ish container of fresh tortellini is split ten ways, the soup tastes completely luxurious and indulgent but adds up to only two points in all three of Weight Watchers current point-counting systems, the myWW rainbow of green, blue and purple points. (I know! Just 2 points!)

Fresh Tortellini vs Shelf-Stable Dried Tortellini or Dried Pasta

Many of us stock up on pantry ingredients, including dried tortellini and other dried pastas. Would these work for this recipe? Absolutely.

Weight Watchers Spinach & Tortellini Soup, another healthy soup ♥ A Veggie Venture. WW Friendly. Low Carb. Low Fat. Easily High Protein. Great for Meal Prep.

What Makes This Spinach Tortellini Soup Special?

It feeds that hunger for pasta without over-indulging in a big plate of pasta

Fresh spinach and basil offer up a taste of summer in winter-friendly comfort food

It keeps well, it might just improve over a couple of days, perfect for weekend cooking for weekday meal prep





RECIPE for WEIGHT WATCHERS SPINACH & TORTELLINI SOUP

Hands-on time: 25 minutes
Time to table: 25 minutes
Makes 10 cups

I'm a chop-as-I-go cook but here recommend prepping the onion, zucchini and garlic before turning on the stove.

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced fine (about 120g)
2 medium zucchini, halved & sliced thin (about 11oz/300g)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes or to taste
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
6 cups water or vegetable broth
1 9-ounce package fresh three-cheese or other tortellini
8 ounces (112g) cooked chicken breast, pulled or cubed, optional but wonderful
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
4 cups (4oz/110g) fresh spinach, stems removed & roughly chopped

TO SERVE, per BOWL
2 teaspoons thin ribbons fresh basil, lovely but optional
1/2 tablespoon grated Parmesan, lovely but optional

In a large, heavy pot such as a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil until shimmery, then stir in the onion and zucchini and cook for about 5 minutes, just until crisp-tender. Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in the seasoning and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in the water and tomatoes. Cover and bring the soup to a boil. Stir in the tortellini (and chicken, if using) and return to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and let simmer until the tortellini are fully cooked (use the package instructions as a guide).

Once the tortellini are cooked, stir in the vinegar and spinach and let cook very briefly, just a minute, it should soften but remain bright green. Taste for seasoning and adjust to taste.

TO SERVE For one-cup servings, scoop out about 2/3 cup of the solids and 1/3 cup of the broth into an individual bowl. Top with fresh basil and grated Parmesan.

MAKE-AHEAD This soup is wonderful straight from the pot but also holds for several days. That makes it perfect for meal prep, portioning out a serving's worth to carry to work for lunch, say.

ALANNA'S TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
I also make this soup with cabbage instead of zucchini, it holds up better over the course of a few days without getting too soft.
Use the empty tomato can to measure the water. Three full cans is close enough to six cups.
The nine-ounce package of cheese tortellini I use has about 60 pieces, so for 10 cups of soup, that's a very generous six pieces per bowl. If you want to save some calories? Use fewer tortellini, I don't think you'll feel shorted.
For meal prep, I find it a little tricky to portion out this soup. It seems to work best to use a slotted spoon to scoop out the solids (the vegetables and noodles), then divide up the broth. Otherwise, it's easy to end up with some portions short on broth.
If you choose the chicken route, you might consider also using chicken stock instead of water. Note to Vegetarians



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Still Hungry?



More Recipes for Weight Watchers Friendly Soups

~ Peasant Cabbage Tomato Soup ~
~ Cabbage & White Bean Stew ~
~ Vegan Chickpea Gumbo ~
~ more soup recipes ~
~ Seasonal Soups & Salads – March ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ My Chicken Noodle Soup ~
~ Hamburger Soup ~
~ Turkey Orzo Soup with Lemon & Spinach ~
~ more noodle soup recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade, my food column

Seasonal Eating: Early Spring Across the Years

Cauliflower-Broccoli Cheddar Horseradish Gratin Roasted Parsnips with Pine Nuts Cream of Celery Soup Fragrant Roasted Beets Beet & Walnut Salad Zucchini Lemon-Honey Salad Zucchini Moons with Mint & Parsley Microwave Green Beans with Tomatillo Salsa Dressing Green Chutney Reuben Casserole (< leftover corned beef?) Carrot Cake Cupcakes Roasted Broccoli with Lemon & Garlic Sushi Salad Crustless Quiche with Roasted Peppers (< this week's healthy favorite!) Cauliflower Hummus Creamy Spinach with Artichokes (< a great choice for Easter!) Falafel Burgers (Lentil Burgers)




Looking for healthy new ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of super-organized quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables. Join "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg to explore the exciting world of common and not-so-common vegetables, seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special.

© Copyright Kitchen Parade
2020


Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. If you make this soup ahead, don't the tortellini get too "blown" or mushy?

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    Replies
    1. Pammey ~ Such a good question because that’s what can happen with regular pasta, right? But I didn’t experience that at all with multiple pots. If you’re concerned, you could cook the tortellini separately and add as used but I do think the tortellini taste better, cooked in the broth. Let me know which way you go! Take care, be well ...

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna