Baked Tortellini

This is definitely one of our absolute favorite meals. Ben got something similar to this at a restaurant one time and I thought "I could definitely make that!" Over time, this is the recipe I have come up with. I'm excited to share it with you because it is so easy to make and tastes like you've worked much harder than you really have :)

There are lots of different things you can do with this to make it your own, so feel free to experiment! Here are the ingredients:

2 bags of frozen cheese tortellini
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (I love the Ragu Sauteed Onion and Garlic)
1 jar of your favorite Alfredo sauce (I always use Bertolli for this one)
handful of fresh parsley (just tear some off and add to taste)
2 garlic cloves
freshly ground salt and pepper
mozzarella and Parmesan cheese (optional)

As you can see above there are a lot of places you can substitute whatever your family likes best or whatever you have on hand. If you make your own sauces then just use equal parts of each type of sauce. If you don't have fresh parsley, use dried. If you're not a big "top it with cheese" fan, then don't! One thing I definitely do recommend is using frozen tortellini. It's much better than what you get in the refrigerated section and almost always cheaper. I have never used the dried but for some reason that just weirds me out. If you make your own, well, then what are you doing reading a blog about cooking?! This recipe makes a large 13x9 pan of tortellini, but I often cut it in half for our family (by only using one bag of tortellini) and freeze the other half of the sauce for the next time I make it.

Here's what I do:

Boil the tortellini, drain and set aside

Add the two sauces, parsley, salt, pepper and garlic cloves to a blender or food processor

Sauce will be pink with all sorts of pretty green flecks of parsley in it

Spray your pan (8x8 for one bag and 13x9 for two bags) add tortellini and cover with sauceBake uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes. If topping with cheese, simply add around the 20 minute mark and continue baking uncovered for the remaining 10 min. (If you like your cheese to brown a little then either cook a little while longer or turn your broiler on for about 2 minutes.)

Serve with Salad and Garlic bread.Watch the plates lick themselves clean. Hope you Enjoy!