~Tortellini Soup~

I had this over Christmas at my in-laws house.  My husband and I LOVED it.  I'm pretty sure we each had 3 bowls. Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo goooooooooooooooooooooooooood!

Tortellini Soup:

1 lg chopped onion
2 cloves minced garlic
1 T olive oil
3 cans beef broth (14 oz each)
1 14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes
1/2 or 3/4 cup Picante sauce ( I used salsa because I didn't have this)
1 T basil
1 diced green pepper ( I didn't have, but my salsa had some green pepper in it.  Close enough:))
3 diced carrots
3 diced stems of celery
1 lb browned ground beef
1 pkg cheese tortellini

Cook onion, pepper and garlic in oil until tender (approx. 6 minutes).  Add remaining ingredients (except tortellini) and bring to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are to desired tenderness.  Add tortellini 10-15 minutes before serving. 
You just need to heat through the tortellini and that doesn't take too long, so watch it!

We topped this with Parmesan cheese and served with homemade Italian herb bread.