White Bean and Ham Tortellini Soup

Happy Hump Day, ya’ll! Here is a warm and cozy soup to help you get through this snowy, winter hump day. White Bean and Ham Tortellini Soup. Now, I won’t lie to you. I was unsure about this soup when I had the idea. I thought it might be a dud… In fact, I wasn’t even originally planning to blog this recipe. I changed my mind when fiancé texted me from the other room (he’s in his office) “This soup is dope!” {hahaha}.

This particular recipe was a happy accident when all of my favorite “menu nights” of the week align. You see, I plan all our meals ahead of time, make a grocery list, then go shopping. Each week I {attempt with the best of intentions} to eat lots of vegetables, spread out my indulgent meals, and limit less healthy options. I devised a “guideline” for my weekly menus that typically serves me well: each week I plan one salad, one red meat/non-chicken dinner, one soup, one pasta dish, and one meal mainly protein with side vegetable. The other nights are leftovers, potential date nights, or free-for-alls. This recipe combined soup night, pasta night, and red meat/non-chicken night plus I threw in a little cream for some extra indulgence. Spectacular.

And frankly, we deserved a little indulgence after all the hiking we did last weekend in Talkeetna. Check out some pictures of our weekend getaway in this adorable little cabin.

This recipe makes approximately 8-10 servings. Substitutions could be made for vegetarians {swap vegetable broth for chicken broth and eliminate ham}.

Ingredients:

• 16 oz cubed ham
• 12 oz cheese tortellini (dried)
• 2 cans (16 oz each) reduced sodium white beans
• 1 pint half-and-half
• 8 cups chicken broth
• 5 tbsp cornstarch
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp ground mustard
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• Vegetable oil

Directions:

Heat the vegetable oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add carrots, celery, onion and sauté until vegetables begin to soften. Next, add garlic and spices then heat through for about 2 minutes. Stir in cornstarch until well mixed with vegetables before adding ham, beans with juice, and chicken broth then gently stir to combine. Bring to a boil stirring often as soup thickens. Add tortellini and continue a low boil over medium heat until pasta is cooked through. Remove from heat and stir in half-and-half.

Enjoy! 😀