Creamy tomato and orzo soup

Every recipe has a story, and this one is no exception! Before we get to that, we'll start with the why behind this recipe. I recently made avgolemono soup for the first time, and absolutely loved the texture of orzo in the soup. I wanted to explore the idea of making a soup with a tomato base where I could enjoy the texture of the orzo with a different flavor profile.

Enter this new recipe! Over the weekend, I made this soup, all with simple ingredients. It comes together in one pot with no chopping required.

When I cooked the first batch, I went to put the soup away into mason jars once it had cooled. While retrieving the jars, I was holding two at a time and I broke one in my hand. Glass went literally EVERYWHERE. All over the kitchen counter and floor, and even close enough to the fresh batch of soup that I had to completely trash it.

Don't worry, my hands are pretty much recovered, but I share this to tell you that the soup was so delicious and easy to make that about an hour later after I had vacuumed our apartment maybe three plus times, I made the soup all over again. It was that simple to put together, and so tasty that I needed to remake it! And the second batch has been stored safely in plastic Tupperware and has been delicious for lunches this week :)

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 2 teaspoons minced garlic

• 6 cups vegetable broth

• 28 oz crushed tomatoes

• 1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 2/3 cup orzo

• 5 oz spinach

• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Cooking time: Under an hour

Cooking instructions:

Heat olive oil and minced garlic in a large pot over medium to high heat until the garlic is fragrant.

Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil.

Add crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a light simmer and leave for 30 minutes, stirring on occasion.

Stir in dry orzo, and leave for five minutes.

Add in spinach and stir until it has wilted. Stir in heavy cream.

Leave to cool slightly and serve, or store for later!

Carb and serving info:

Servings: 4 (about 2 cups each)

Carbs per serving: 42.1

Note: Carb information is calculated based on the specific ingredients I used to cook with to help guide my own insulin to carb ratio when dosing before I eat my home cooked recipes.