I love meals that I can make ahead…bakes, casseroles, crock pot meals, etc. Basically, I love any meal that makes my life easier amidst the numerous after school activities and during the chaos that is dinner time. I also love meals that I can double and store in the fridge for a couple of days to take care of dinner a second night during the week and this is one of those meals. BAM (I just gave myself a high five)! If I’m being honest, two of my little ones are super picky eaters, so they do not like this bake as prepared. In this case, I just set aside some of the tortellini and chicken sausage prior to combining the remaining ingredients; one meal for the whole family to enjoy.

This bake can also be customized for your family: substitute any pasta for the tortellini and change up the veggies.

Ingredients:

• 18-20 oz package of your favorite tortellini (to please everyone in this picky household, I used cheese tortellini)
• 1/2 cup steamed broccoli
• 1 package of your favorite sausage (I used spicy Italian chicken sausage), thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 can artichoke hearts sliced (optional)
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 1/4 cup milk
• olive oil
• 1 – 2 tsp minced garlic

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. In a large sauce pan drizzled with olive oil, brown sausage with minced garlic
3. While sausage is cooking, cook tortellini according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.
4. Once sausage is cooked through/browned, add chicken stock, milk, steamed broccoli and artichokes. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Add tortellini to sausage pan and mix well.
6. Transfer mixture to an oven safe baking dish
7. In a separate bowl, combine panko breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese
8. Sprinkle breadcrumb/cheese mixture on top
9. Bake for 20 minutes
10. Enjoy!

Note: If you made this meal ahead of time, you will need to add 10-20 minutes to the baking time to heat thoroughly.

~Kristen

www.prettygrittygirls.com