Weekend Cooking: Tortellini Soup & Beer Bread

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. To see who else is participating go to Beth Fish Reads, Weekend Cooking, here.

I love to make hearty soups in the winter and there's nothing better than a warm & hearty soup with a side of crusty bread. One of my favorite soups to make is Tortellini Soup and I serve it with a crusty bread or Stacy's Pita Chips, my favorite is Tuscan Herb. I found this recipe for Tortellini soup in a magazine years ago and I make it often in the fall and winter.

Hearty Tortellini Soup

2 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped fine

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

2 (13 1/2 ounce cans) Chicken or Beef Broth OR 1 32 ounce Container of Broth

1 (8 ounce or larger...use more broth) fresh, frozen or dry cheese tortellini

1 (10 ounce) package fresh or frozen spinach, thawed

1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes (I like to use the flavored garlic&herbs)

   or can stewed tomatoes, undrained and coarsely chopped

Grated Parmesan Cheese

In large saucepan, over medium-high heat cook garlic in oil for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add broth and tortellini, heat to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes.  Add spinach and tomatoes; simmer 5 minutes more. Serve topped with cheese, if desired.  Serve with a crusty bread or pita chips. Serves 6 or more.

( I tend to have to add more broth as the tortellini seem to absorb the broth).

Beer Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups flour (sifted)

3 teaspoons baking powder (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)

1 teaspoon salt (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)

1/4 cup sugar

1 (12 ounce) can beer

1/2 cup melted butter (1/4 cup will do just fine)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients and beer.

Pour into a greased loaf pan.

Pour melted butter over mixture.

Bake 1 hour, remove from pan and cool for at least 15 minutes.

UPDATED NOTES: Sifting flour for bread recipes is a must-do. Most people just scoop the 1 cup measure in the flour canister and level it off. That compacts the flour and will turn your bread into a "hard biscuit" as some have described. That's because they aren't sifting their flour! If you do not have a sifter, use a spoon to spoon the flour into the 1 cup measure. Try it once the "correct" way and you will see an amazing difference in the end product.

*I haven't made this Beer Bread recipe (found at  Recipezaar) but I plan to make it.