Creamy Slow Cooker Tortellini Soup

Every once in a while a recipe comes along that is so good that you sit around counting the days until you get to make it again.  This creamy slow cooker tortellini soup is one of those recipes.  I made it while the hubs was out of town and I'm not going to lie... I ate the entire crockpot full myself.  It took a few days, but I savored every bowlful!  It was like lasagna in soup form.

Honestly, I was really surprised by how much I loved the mushrooms in this because I'm not a huge mushroom fan.  I like them, but I don't love them if that makes sense.  In this soup they were amazing and added some rusticness... I totally made that up, but they were good.  Really good.

I altered the original recipe that I'd found on Heather Likes Food  slightly to make it a little easier to prepare.   I like a lot of spinach so I use the entire bag.  If you're not a fan, add half or skip it all together.   There are a lot of ways you can change this up based on what's in your pantry and what mood you're in.

Give this a try and let me know what you think!

Creamy Slow Cooker Tortellini Soup
Recipe
24 oz. jar spaghetti with meat sauce or regular sauce mixed with 1/2 lb browned Italian sausage or beef
2-3 oz. pepperoni, diced
8 oz. sliced mushrooms (fresh)
4 c. beef broth
8 oz. reduced fat cream cheese
1 (4.5 oz.) bag spinach leaves, chopped
16 oz. frozen cheese tortellini

Directions:

1. In a slow cooker combine sauce, pepperoni, mushrooms, beef broth and cream cheese.  Cook 2 hours on high or until mushrooms are done.  Stir well to mix up cream cheese. 
2. Add spinach leaves and tortellini.  Cook 30 more minutes on high.  
3. Serve with a generous amount of Parmesan cheese. 

Adapted from: Heather Likes Food