Taste of Tuesday - Tortellini Bake

I'm back for Taste of Tuesday!! If you haven't checked it out you have to. Blissfully Miller and Let's Get Bananas do a Taste of Tuesday linkup every week. There are so many great ideas and everything looks soooo gooooddd!!

So I promised in this post that I would be doing a recipe on the blog. I wasn't sure at the time what I would be doing, but I came across this on one of my Pinterest boards and thought it sounded fantastic!! So, I changed it!

lol. Only a little this time. And only because I was trying to make it a little healthier and I couldn't find all of the ingredients that they asked for at my local Walmart. You can find the original recipe here!

But it turned out pretty good!! I have a few suggestions, which I'll write at the end so be sure to check those out before you decide to make it for yourself. And you should definitely make it for yourself. Along with a drank to link up for this week's Thirsty Thursday!! Don't forget to come back and link up on Thursday!!

Spinach and Cheese Tortellini Bake

INGREDIENTS:

1 pkg. Barilla three cheese tortellini (in the dry pasta aisle)

5 slices of turkey bacon

1 tbsp. butter

3 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 tbs. flour

2 cups milk

¾ tsp. kosher salt

⅛ tsp. black pepper

1 1/2 tsp. dry basil

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

zest from 1 lemon

2 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped

1 1/2 cups shredded cheese italian blend

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Cook tortellini according to package directions.

Cook turkey bacon in medium sized skillet until crisp. Remove from pan and place on paper towel. Add garlic and butter. When butter is melted and garlic is tender add flour. Stir with whisk for about a minute. Slowly add milk and whisk until smooth. Add salt, pepper, basil, and red pepper flakes. Zest lemon into sauce. Keep stirring until thick and then remove from heat.

Drain tortellini and then put back in pot. Add bacon reserving a little for the garnish. Add spinach and cheese, and then sauce. Stir to combine. 

Place mixture in 8x8 in casserole dish and top with remaining bacon and some more cheese.

Cover dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 5-10 minutes. Let sit a few minutes before serving.

*OK so now for my recommendations.*

- Make more sauce. I don't know exactly how you do that. More butter, more flour, and a little more milk? But..it was a little dry-ish. I would like it a little creamier.

- Try to get the spinach and cheese tortellini if you can find it. It was almost too cheesy tasting.

- Add more bacon!! BACON!! If you use regular bacon keep the drippings and don't add butter. It will probably taste better with regular bacon, too.