Broccoli Chicken with Cheese Tortellini Soup

1 pkg. (11.2 oz.) Cheddar Broccoli Soup Mix (Bear Creek)
1 pkg (12 oz.) Three Cheese Tortellini (Bartilla)
2 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite size pieces
6 cups of water
2 cups half & half

Cook tortellini according to package.  Drain and set aside.  In a large pot bring water to a boil.  Add soup mix.  Whisk until smooth.  Add milk and continue to whisk until soup starts to thicken.  Stir in chicken and tortellini.  Serves 8 - 10.

Martha:  I love broccoli cheese soup.  I love chicken.  And I love tortellini.  So why not put them all together to create one really great soup?  It worked out beautifully.  Plus, its easy and so quick to make.  You could actually make this with leftover chicken.  If you want a little lighter soup, use 2% milk instead of the half & half.  Or use all water.  This soup was so good that one of my food testers, Dusty, emailed me her praises. 

Dusty:  As soon as I took the first bite I was transported back to my Grandma Rose's kitchen !! Just as creamy and delicious as hers used to be!! But it wasn't till I saw the NAME of the dish that I started racing down memory lane....Martha & my grandma cook AND think alike!! I didn't see or taste one bit of broccolli in that dish....Grandma's either!!

At Grandma Rose's - Once I saw the recipe card on the counter entitled Broccolli Tortelini & flipped out! Broccolli in my favorite pasta supper? This was espionage of the highest order!!!

Grandma just smiled.....she knew that if she'd even MENTIONED the "B" word, my sister and I wouldn't have gone NEAR the table no matter how great it smelled! Which of course, caused me to question how many different veggies she'd been hiding in other seemingly innocent plates of yummy food!

They say longevity is the best test of any idea & this one passes--- I used it many times on my own kids who totally never knew that they got at least 3 servings of veggies in every plate of spaghetti they wolfed down cause I would take a page from Grandma's book & puree any leafy green I could get my hands on before adding it to the homemade spaghetti sauce they loved so much!! LOL!

 

Martha:  Dusty, that is one of the best endorsements for a dish I've ever had.  Thank you and I'm so glad I was able to take you back to a comfortable time in your life.