I have a delicious soup recipe for you today that is filled with ravioli, chicken, spinach, and a tomato soup mixture. It tastes delicious, and I am eager to share it with you, but before we get to the recipe, let’s talk real quickly about why I fell off of the grid for a little bit. The last recipe I shared on the blog was on March 20! Yikes! If you have been with us at Meal Planning Mommies for very long, you know that this is not normal for me.

I thought it would be an easier read if I just bullet-pointed a few things that have been going on since March 20 for anyone who is interested. This will be sort of like a timeline, and some of it is blog-related and some is not. It’s totally fine if you want to skip this part…Feel free to skip my little update and jump to the recipe here, or you can keep reading…

FIRST, THE BLOG STUFF:

1. 1. 1. From March 19-21, we had a surge of traffic come to our site that almost doubled the number of daily page views.
      2. On March 22, the Meal Planning Mommies website crashed…no one (not even me) could get into the site. This lasted for hours as we tried to communicate with our site host, who put us on hold for between 45 minutes to 3 hours each time we tried to reach out to them (no, I am not joking). They gave us the run-around, told us to upgrade our plan, and even after all of that, the site still was not working.
      3. We communicated with our host several times in a matter of two days. One of the workers we talked to finally helped us get the site back up and running, but it was VERY slow…like, the kind of slow where you click to get to the site, and you have to wait 60 seconds for it to load. Let’s be real, no one has the patience for that. I mean, I know I don’t, and it’s MY site! I am aware that all this was beyond frustrating for any of you who tried to get to the site hoping to use a recipe from a meal plan, so I want to apologize for that. We were also very frustrated and were doing what we knew to do at the time.
      4. My husband did some research and learned several things we could do on our end to get the site running more efficiently. When he was done with all of his tricks, the site was loading in less than 2 seconds, and I could not have been more thrilled. We also switched to a new host, BlueHost. BlueHost is highly recommended in the world of web hosts, their prices are fantastic, and they have been fabulous to work with! If you are needing a host for a website, I highly recommend them!

   
   
   

   Unfortunately, when I went to complete and publish this recipe, the draft wasn’t there. When my husband helped clean up the site, all of the recipe drafts I had created previously were deleted (sigh). I was feeling defeated at that point and decided I needed to give myself a little time before I went back in and tried to re-type the whole recipe post…but then things got really busy…

THEN, THE OTHER LIFE STUFF HAPPENED:

1. By this point, our kids were on spring break, and my time became all about taking care of the kiddos, getting together with friends, and working on a couple of long overdo home improvement projects: painting our kids’ rooms. We were in hyper-focus mode, using all we learned from both Marie Kondo and Chip and Joanna Gaines. By the time we were done, the rooms were completely freshened up (and lightened up) with WAY less stuff in them. Each room took three or so days to complete, and before I knew it, it was April 3!I will say, pulling everything out of our kids’ rooms, painting the walls with primer and paint, and sorting through all of their stuff afterward (what to keep, sell, and throw away) felt like more than a full-time job. We did it though, and so I thought I would share a few pictures. (I feel I should mention here that my daughter was a HUGE help in painting. She caught on quick and did a great job! Thank you, Keely!!)

 BEFORE PICS OF MY DAUGHTER’S BEDROOM:

AFTER PICS OF OUR DAUGHTER’S BEDROOM:

BEFORE PICS OF OUR SONS’ BEDROOM:

I wish I would have taken better pictures of our boys’ room before we started painting, but I didn’t think about it until we were already moving things out of the room. You can tell that the room was very dark with a deep blue color on the walls that made the room feel very small, and the boys have always had bunk beds.

AFTER PICTURES OF THE BOYS’ BEDROOM:

Speaking of things I have been doing for, and with, my kids, I had the honor of being a volleyball coach for my daughter’s 5th/6th grade team at our YMCA. The older our kids get, the more I enjoy spending time with them, and I was grateful that she was excited for me to coach her team.

MY DAUGHTER AND ME AFTER WE FINISHED OUR LAST VOLLEYBALL GAME:

Okay, enough about my personal life. It feels great to get back to blogging. Let’s get to today’s yummy soup recipe! A few things you may want to know about this Ravioli Florentine Soup.

The kind of ravioli I used.

I just use the mini ravioli that they carry at my grocery store, but any mini cheese ravioli will do.

Alternatively, you could also use cheese tortellini.

The kind of chicken I used.

I did some shopping at Aldi this week, so the chicken I got was from there. Aldi offers a package of pre-cooked grilled chicken breast strips right around where their deli meats are. It’s called, “Lunch Mate Original Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast Strips.” It comes in a package that is 6 ounces, so that is what I recommend using in this recipe…

If you don’t have the chicken pictured above, you could also use regular grilled boneless, skinless chicken breasts, or you can add in chopped raw chicken breasts and cook it in the broth a little longer, until it is fully cooked.

The kind of tomato juice I used.

I just used V-8 vegetable juice, but any tomato juice will work just fine if you don’t have V-8 juice. Don’t have tomato juice? Tomato sauce would also work. Substituting the V-8 juice will alter the flavor a little since the flavors in V-8 juice are little more complex, but the soup will stay taste good.

Ready to give this soup a try?

Here is what you need:

Cooking spray
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 ounces grilled boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped (I used Aldi’s Lunch Mate Original Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast Strips)
3 cups baby spinach
2 cups (approximately 8 ounces) mini cheese ravioli
2 cups fat-free chicken broth
1 cup V-8 vegetable juice or other tomato juice
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste

Here is what you do:

Spray a stockpot with cooking spray and set over medium heat. Add onions and allow to cook until the onions are tender, about 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds.

Add remaining ingredients, except for the Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper, then cook 6-7 minutes, or until the spinach is wilted and ravioli is tender.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Salt and pepper, to taste.

Makes 5 cups.
One cup is 4 Green, 4 Blue, and 4 Purple Points.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Ravioli Florentine Soup

One cup is 4 Green, 4 Blue, and 4 Purple Points.

Makes: 5 servings

Calories: 189

Author: Alisha Hughes

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 ounces grilled boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped (I used Aldi's Lunch Mate Original Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast Strips)
• 3 cups baby spinach
• 2 cups (approximately 8 ounces) mini cheese ravioli
• 2 cups fat-free chicken broth
• 1 cup V-8 tomato juice or other tomato juice
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

• Spray a stockpot with cooking spray and set over medium heat.
• Add onions and allow to cook until the onions are tender, about 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds.
• Add remaining ingredients, except for the Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper, then cook 6-7 minutes, or until the spinach is wilted and ravioli is tender.
• Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Salt and pepper, to taste.