Gracious Goodness: Soup Night is Our Favorite Night!

Y'all are just going to fall out over this one! Tonight I made our new FAVORITE soup- Chicken Tortellini. This recipe is easy, relatively inexpensive and packed with flavor!

We have admittedly been on a little bit of a soup binge lately, but this is the one we keep coming back to. The first time I made this soup was the night we put up our outdoor Christmas lights and it was F.R.E.E.Z.I.N.G. I'm not sure if it was the cold or the soup, but I think Austin had three bowls in one sitting that night!

Like most soups, this one gets better and better each day! It will keep up to four days in the refrigerator, but it never makes it that long in our house!

To start, heat 2 tbsp. of coconut oil in a large pot. Your veggies will be the first to go in.

*You can of course use any carrots. I used these because I happened to have them in my fridge*

First, mince your garlic. Next take your vidalia onion, red, yellow and orange bell peppers, mushrooms and carrots and finely dice them.

Place all of your veggies into the pot with the hot coconut oil and add a sprinkle of kosher salt and 2 bay leaves. Sauté until softened.

Now for the chicken. Add your uncooked bone-in chicken breasts to the veggies, placing them right on top. Sprinkle with a little fresh ground black pepper.

*Note: I prefer to use organic chicken simply because it is smaller and much more tender. My two chicken breasts came to 1.3 lbs. The chicken breast should never be bigger than your hand.*

Okay y'all.... here is my biggest secret for this soup (and any soup really). While I would prefer it, I typically don't have time to make homemade chicken stock. However, I despise buying the canned or boxed broth because I never seem to go through it and then it sits, taking up room spoiling in my fridge. So, drumroll please:

This is one of my favorite items that is ALWAYS in my fridge. They also have a low-sodium item if you prefer! It lasts forever and has wonderful flavor! 1 tsp. to 1 cup of water! It's fabulous!

Add your 6 cups of broth to cover your chicken breasts and bring to a boil. Once your broth is boiling, cover your pot and let simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes.

Once cooked, remove your chicken to a cutting board and pull (I find that using 2 forks is the easiest way).

Once shredded, add your chicken back to the broth and add 1 package of cheese tortellini.

Bring the soup back to a boil. Once it is at a steady boil, cover and lower heat to a simmer. Cook until tortellini begins to burst. This is key! You will feel like you are overcooking them when it's happening, but the thing that makes this soup so amazing is that when the tortellini burst, the flavor of the cheeses inside begin to flavor the soup! It turns out to be the most flavorful broth you have ever tasted! When they are done, your soup will look something like this:

Now, turn the heat completely off, cover, and let sit for about 1 hour. Once it has rested and the flavors have melded into the broth, measure out 2 cups of whole milk. Make sure that you have let the broth rest before you add the milk, otherwise it will curdle. Add your milk and bring back to a simmer.