thanks for the info - and for wondering about me - I'm on my second week of houseguests - in-laws this week - and woke up this morning to no water. Apparently the village left a note yesterday afternoon that our street would be out until at least 2...but Scott brought it in with the paper and never saw it. I was hoping to not have to boil, but I'll figure out a way! Along with figuring out where my company will go potty...:-( Thanks!

I often make a very similar meal. So often that I've never even bothered to write down any given version of it. It is usually some combination of meat and/or vegetables that I happen to have on hand, mixed with a three-cheese tortellini and a pan-made parmesan cheese-cream sauce. Assuming that I had the main ingredients you listed, here's how it'd go: Tortellini con tutto cio che e in frigo serves 3 to 4 9 oz package Buitoni 3 cheese tortellini 2 medium shallots (chopped fine) 1 Tbsp olive oil 3 oz proscuitto (sliced into thin ribbons 1/4"x2") 1/3 cup frozen peas 1 1/2 Tbsp butter 1 Tbsp flour 1 tsp crushed garlic 4-6 medium white mushrooms (sliced) 1/3 cup light cream (or half and half) 1/3 cup white wine 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese Cook tortellini according to package directions. Heat oil over medium heat. Add chopped shallots and cook until shallots start to become translucent, being careful to not let them brown. Add garlic and mushrooms, and cook until mushrooms soften. Add peas and proscuitto. Melt butter in center of pan and add flour to melted butter, letting the butter and flour foam up. Add cream and stir until sauce starts to thicken. Stir in wine and cheese, adding more wine if the sauce is too thick, add more cheese if the sauce is too thin. Drain tortellini and add to pan with sauce. Stir until well mixed and serve with crescent rolls.

Oh wow, just noticed you are making all of these yourself? They all would benefit from a few things waiting until the heat and serve time...a half hour before party time. (keeps cooking during the party even on a simmer) Cheese, cream/milk, coconut milk, herbs, etc. Basically anything that is added last in the recipe that says "add last and bring to temp and serve". Canned corn is kinda dead tasting and usually full of sugar. Frozen, added morning-of, would be better. Puree half of it for creamed corn. Side bowls of fresh herbs, limes, cilantro, grated cheese, croutons, toasted slices of baguettes, tortilla chips...even if it is already in the soup, folks like to customize their bowl, :) (tortilla added to the soup gives a nice flavor and breaks down in the broth and really good, but adding half later is nice for the texture) Almost all soups freeze just fine as leftovers cooked all the way as a recipe even with a pasta or rice...but do taste like a leftover. Holding off an ingredient or two will give it some freshness, like the chopped kale or fresh chopped tomatoes. When i thaw leftover soups, i always dig in the fridge and look for something fresh to add, like a fresh frozen salsa, pesto, shelled edamame... You are on the right tract by holding off what makes sense. Keeping the list and menu planned and organized for what goes into where and when can be tricky. (imagine what a restaurant chef goes through all day, every day! yikes) -don't mean to be anti-canned goods, but most of those recipes passed around are coming from the big manufacturers of processed foods, so the same flavors can be made with much fresher ingredients without the chemicals and fake flavors.

Ann, try saving it to your Clippings. Look to the right of your last post (just above this). You will see the word Clippings in green letters. Under that it will say Clip This Post. For each recipe or comment you want to save, click on Clip This Post. Another way to do it is to highlight the entire thread, or the parts you want, right click with your mouse and then click on Copy. Start a new document in Word and paste the thread into that document, then save it to your computer. If you want me to do that for you and then email it to you, let me know.