½ to 1poundground sausage, regular or spicy, cooked and crumbled (grease drained)
9 to 12ouncepackage cheese tortellini (see note)
2cupshalf and half (see note)
2 to 3handfuls fresh spinach, torn into pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
To the insert of a 5- or 6-quart (or similar size) slow cooker, add the potatoes, chicken broth, parsley, and garlic. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or high for 2-3 hours until the potatoes are tender.
Leave the potatoes in chunks OR lightly mash them in the slow cooker until slightly chunky (I prefer mashing the potatoes lightly).
Stir in the cooked sausage, tortellini, half and half, and spinach. Cook on high for 20-30 mins until the tortellini is tender. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper! The soup will thicken slightly as it cools (refrigerated leftovers will thicken quite a bit).
Notes
Potatoes: I like the variety of both types of potatoes in this recipe, but you could use all of one or the other. If using 2 pounds of sweet potatoes (and no Yukon gold or yellow potatoes), tasting and adding additional salt and pepper, if needed, is especially important as the potatoes will make the overall flavor sweeter.Substitutions: you can use heavy cream in place of the half and half OR try using 2 cups milk blended or whisked with 1-2 tablespoons flour (for a lighter version).Doubling the Recipe: I've doubled this several times in an 8-quart slow cooker. It's full...but it works!Tortellini: my go-to brand of tortellini is the Kirkland Five Cheese Tortellini at Costco. I definitely recommend refrigerated uncooked cheese tortellini vs the dried, shelf-stable variety in the pasta aisle.