Tortellini and Turkey Meatball Soup

          The other day I ate a bowl of Italian wedding soup from one of my favorite lunch spots near work. The soup was delicious, but it usually ends up being close to $8 a bowl and since I’ve been trying to cut back I started thinking about trying to make it myself. Instead of looking up a recipe, I just picked up a few ingredients at Trader Joe’s and decided to make a tortellini and turkey meatball soup, inspired by the Italian wedding.

          My soup consisted of three ingredients: frozen turkey meatballs, chicken broth, and cheese tortellini. I heated the frozen meatballs by simmering them in a covered pot with the chicken broth for twenty-five minutes (eventually cutting them into quarters once they started to warm). While they were heating, I cooked the tortellini according to the directions on the package for seventeen minutes. Once the tortellini was done, I combined it in the pot with the broth and meatballs. The result was a delicious soup, somewhat similar to Italian wedding but a simpler, and more creative version.

          I’m always trying to come up with quick and easy dinners, and dishes I can make in bulk to eat for lunch. This soup not only achieved that goal, but it was cheap ($6 for 4-5 servings of soup with half the meatballs and tortellini leftover) and low calorie (about 250 calories per serving).