Cheesy Tortellini and Sausage

 

Ingredients:

• 19 oz bag frozen cheese tortellini (you can do multi-color noodles or regular, taste preference)
• 1 lb ground sweet italian sausage
• 1 bag FRESH spinach (must use fresh, frozen will make the soup weird)
• 2 cans italian diced tomatoes
• 2 cans low-fat, low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (8 oz) cream cheese, cut into cubes

Directions:

1. Brown the sausage in a skillet. Drain.
2. Add sausage and remaining ingredients to slow cooker, stir to combine. (add the tortellini frozen)
3. Cook on low for 5 hours, stirring twice during cooking

My friend Lauren intially shared this recipe with me, there are some minor alterations, but basically still the original recipe. I would like to say, this recipe can be watery if you cook too long. Also, I would allow the soup to sit for a little to cool a bit just to ensure it thickens. I also have added romano cheese on top, basically because I personally love Romano cheese. This is not necessary, the soup will be cheesy and delicious without it, I just love it.

 

Great sunday night recipe, and left overs for lunch during the week.

 

ENJOY:)

 

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Pesto with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw almonds
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• 2 cups fresh basil
• 1 jar sun dried tomatoes
• fresh grated parmesan or romano cheese
• salt and pepper (to taste)
• 1 lb pasta (any kind)

1. Place almonds in food processor and pulse until it begins to form a paste.
2. Next, add the spinach and basil leaves. Pulse a little bit then add the olive oil. Personally, I use 1/4 cup basil infused olive oil, 1/4 cup garlic infused olive oil, and 1/4 regular EVOO. This is not necessary, I have made the recipe with only regular EVOO and its still great, you also could add 2 cloves of crushed garlic with the regular EVOO if you love garlic. :)
3. Pulse the ingredients until thoroughly mixed. You can cook the pasta while you're mixing in the food processor, or after. Cook according to type of pasta and directions, I prefer al dente. I often use whole wheat rotini, because I like using different types of pasta, but regular spaghetti is always great.
4. After draining the noodles, add the pesto sauce and mix thoroughly. Take some of the sun-dried tomatoes from the jar (if you got the tomatoes julienne you do not need to do more than drain some of the oil and add them to the pasta) If you got whole sun dried tomatoes, i recommend slicing them down in half or thirds. I don't have an exact quantity of sun dried tomatoes, I usually add about half a jar for a pound of pesto pasta. You just want enough to have a sun dried tomato with every three bites or so.
5. I use salt and pepper grinders to add a couple turns of each to the entire pasta. You can salt & pepper to taste with each serving. I also like to add fresh grated Romano, or parmesan on top.

ENJOY :)

Posted with Blogsy