Tortellini Primavera

Oh buddy... You'll want 2 bowlfuls of this one...

Tortellini Primavera, aka Cheese-Os as my mom used to call them when my brother and I were kids to get us to eat it. This dish brings back a lot of nostalgia. My mom was handed this recipe when I was first born and we had just moved to a new state. I took this recipe and altered it to truly be a knock out of the park. Not to mention it's a great option for Meatless Monday!

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1/2 of one large white onion

• 9 oz of fresh spinach (about 2 1/2 bags)

• 4 garlic cloves

• 3 plum tomatoes or 4 large roma tomatoes

• 1 cup of baby bella mushrooms

• 12 oz of cream cheese

• 1/4 cup of heavy cream

• 1/2 cup of fresh basil

• 2 tsp of italian seasoning

• salt and pepper to taste

• 3/4 cup of parmesan

• 20 oz of premade tortellini

• 4 tbsp of butter

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large skillet. Dice onion and mince garlic.

2. Cook onions until soft and translucent, then add garlic.

3. Chop mushrooms and dice tomatoes and add to the skillet.

4. While mushrooms and tomatoes cook, chop spinach lightly then add to pan.

5. While spinach cooks down, begin boiling tortellini.

6. Add cream cheese, and after it's melted add the heavy cream, salt, pepper, and italian seasoning.

7. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and let simmer/reduce for about 10 minutes.

8. Add parmesan, allow to melt, then add cooked tortellini.

9. Finish your dish by chopping up some fresh basil and add that ish in and voila!

I personally love the taste of fresh basil in this dish, but parsley works too!

Tips and Tricks

Spinach:

I LOVE spinach in general, and I love it even more in this dish, I was a little conservative on the spinach for this recipe, but feel free to amp it up with even more spinach. My mom used to load this up with spinach when I was a kid, hence the nickname Cheese-O's, because she figured if kids saw all that green we wouldn't eat it. But jokes on her cause I love spinach!!!

Isn't it so satisfying to see how much spinach cooks down????

Butter:

I used both butter and olive oil for this one many for sauteing the onions, garlic, and other veggies. So you can be as conservative if you want if your watching your butter intake, but if you want a creamier sauce, def load up on those fats.

Tortellini:

USing store-bought premade tortellini is the go here. This recipe calls for cheese filled tortellini but you can certainly use whatever tortellini you want. I've done this with sausage filled tortellini and others, but I do think that the cheese-filled tortellini tastes best for this one!

Overall

That's it! This dish is super easy, takes about 20-30 mins for prep and cook, takes minimal work, and only requires one large skillet and a pot to boil pasta in. Which makes clean up a total breeze. If you're like me, I absolutely despise doing the dishes, so this dish is a total win in my book. So try it out for yourself!