Creamy Tortellini & Sausage

A friend introduced me to this dish and I can't believe I have yet to share this new found family favorite. It's in our regular dinner rotation over here and is always a crowd pleaser (and feeds a crowd or makes great leftovers!) The original recipe can be found here, though I've made a few tweaks to the recipe and really love my version. 

Ingredients:
1 lb. of chicken sausage (I use the precooked kind and just slice it into disks and brown)
1 (19oz) bag of frozen cheese tortellini (I sometimes use fresh Buitoni, but I'd avoid using the dried kind)1 small bag of fresh spinach (I used about half of a 5 oz package, but more is better!)2 (14.5 oz) cans of Italian style diced tomatoes, drained1 block (8 oz) of cream cheese (I always buy the greek yogurt cream cheese blend or neufchatel to make it healthier)4 cups of chicken broth

Add sausage to a large stock pot. Because it's already cooked, all you need to do is brown the sausage. Once it is browned, add the diced tomatoes and chicken broth. Reserve 1 cup of the chicken broth. 
In a bowl combine the 1 cup chicken broth with the greek yogurt blend cream cheese. Microwave for 1-2 minutes until the cheese is softened. With a wire whisk, whisk the cheese and chicken broth until smooth (this helps avoid the curdling of the cheese that can happen if you just add a block of cream cheese straight to the pot. Once smooth, add it to the pot of sausage, diced tomato and chicken broth. 

Add in your fresh or frozen tortellini and bring to a boil. Cook until tortellini are done (floating). The original recipe calls for the spinach to be added straight to the pot, but I have a hard time eating next-day wilted spinach in a soup, so I usually opt to put a handful of spinach in the bottom of my bowl before ladling on the hot soup. 

Serve immediately (Serves 4-6)