Pesto Minestrone Soup with Tortellini by Susan

Ingredients:
2 tsp Olive Oil
2 C Chopped Onion
4 1/2 C Water
2 bags frozen Vegetables- I used a regular mixed veggie and one that contained Zucchini
1 1/2 tsp Dried Oregano
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
4 cloves of Garlic
2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes, undrained
2 14.5 oz cans of Vegetable or Chicken Broth (I used Chicken.)
4 Tbsp Commercially Prepared Pesto
18 oz Cheese Tortellini, cooked

Assembly:
Heat Olive Oil in a large Dutch Oven (5 Qt). Add Onion and saute 4 min, or until tender. Add water and next seven ingredients, through broth. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Add Pesto and Tortellini. Cover and simmer until heated, just a few minutes. At this point you can serve or allow it to cool and freeze.

On Serving Day:
Thaw, Reheat and enjoy. (We ate ours with Corn Bread.)

Adjustments:
The original recipe was half of the above. I received this amount from another freezer group and it fed my family of 6. The original recipe called for 2 diced zucchini and one bag of frozen vegetables. However I was able to find a vegetable variety that included zucchini and chose to use two bags of frozen vegetables instead. The original recipe also called for the tortellini to be uncooked and simmer in the broth after the vegetables are tender, but on the advice of my friend who gave it to us I chose to precook the tortellini. She has made this often and found she was consistently having to add additional broth after the tortellini was cooked to have enough liquid.