Spinach Tortellini Soup

This is our family's favorite soup. I use leftover Thanksgiving turkey. I also use Turkey stock that is made with the leftover Thanksgiving turkey carcass. There is always a lot of meat that is difficult to remove from the turkey. So, I remove what I can, then put the whole thing in a stock pot, cover with water and boil for 2-4 hours. Strain the liquid, fill in jars (3/4 full) and freeze. Pull off the rest of the meat, put the bones back into the stock pot, cover with water and repeat. You get a lot of stock doing this twice. You will need to use more sodium in your recipes when you cook with homemade turkey stock.

1 cup dry navy beans
8 cups chicken stock or turkey stock
4 cups water
4 teaspoons chicken bouillon
1 onion, chopped
2 TB fresh minced garlic
2 TB olive oil
1 tsp salt
10 ounce package frozen chopped spinach
8 ounce package dried cheese tortellini. (or the equivalent of fresh)
1-2 cups cooked, shredded chicken or turkey
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
Fresh grated Parmesan or shredded Italian cheese blend

Boil your navy beans in water for 2 minutes and then cover and let sit for 30 minutes. Drain beans and rinse.

Return beans to pot. Add chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 1 hour. (Depending on how old your beans are, you may have to boil for up to 2 hours.)

Saute onions in olive oil. Add garlic. Add to beans.

Add water, salt, bouillon and frozen spinach to beans. Bring to a boil. Add tortellini, basil, pepper, parsley and cooked chicken/turkey. Simmer for 15 minutes- or until tortellini is cooked.

Serve in bowls and top with cheese.