Cheesy Sausage Tortellini

This month, I've vowed to spend less money on eating out. The past few months have been a little ridiculous. For the average person, this is probably not that difficult but there is nothing I love more than going out to eat...

Ok, of course there are things I love more. Tons of things! But I really like going out to eat: no cooking and no clean up! Now that we have a family of 3 though, eating out is getting expensive. We rarely spend under $35 at a restaurant, and that's on a good day!

So, I'm going back to my recipes and trying to have fun/exciting things in the weekly meal plan. It's a little easier to eat at home when you're not having the same old boring stand-bys. Not that they do not have their place. Spaghetti on book club night or a pot roast on a Sunday are sometimes perfectly fine and almost necessary. But on nights where dinner is the main attraction, why not make it attractive?

My first recipe up for review: Cheesy Sausage Tortellini from Kevin & Amanda's blog.

Yum yum! I mean, who doesn't love cheesy goodness, right? This recipe is quick and easy. It's very creamy, and Emily loved it. Here's the basic recipe, and you can find tons more pictures on the blog.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb smoked turkey sausage
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 cup tomato sauce (or your favorite spaghetti sauce)
1/2 cup regular or heavy cream
9 oz tortellini
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until just starting to smoke. Add sausage and cook until well browned, about 3-4 minutes per side. Add garlic and stir until golden and fragrant, about 30 seconds.

2. Add both, tomato sauce, cream, tortellini, and salt and pepper and stir to combine until simmering and bubbly.

3. Cover and simmer over low heat for 12 minutes until tortellini are tender and heated through. Enjoy!! :)

There are a few things I did differently from the basic instructions. I followed most of it to the T, but I simmered it without the cover for the last 5 minutes to boil out some of the liquid. I don't like too much soupy-sauce, and that's kind of how it was looking for a minute there. Then I let it stand for about 5 minutes to let it really thicken up. Because I'm lazy and did not feel like making a salad, I also added frozen peas (and carrots because that's what I had on hand) to the mix while it simmered. Gotta get in those veggies!

One thing I will do differently next time is get the more expensive tortellini rather than the bargain brand. The bargain brand is a little bland, but that's my fault and not the recipe! I think next time I might try it with our new favorite spaghetti sauce: Prego's Creamy Vodka sauce. This stuff is so good! It's never on sale, but I buy it anyway.

I recently started a Pinterest board called "Recipes Tried and Liked". Original, right? If you're interested, check them out over here. Hopefully I'll have some more reviews coming soon!