And I try not to toot my own horn, (and really this is my mom’s horn), but this tortellini is seriously fantastic! I CRAVE it on the regular. I ask my mom to make it every time she’s in town or I go home. And yes, I am a carb lover and I am not a picky eater, but this is seriously the best tortellini!!! Do you get the idea? I really really love it. (And MaLee, Madison and Makayla have all had it and they love it too! As does my husband and my children, and the families in our church that I’ve made it for. So there’s corroboration!)

It’s pretty easy as well.

Sidenote, I am not fancy and I do not make my own tortellini. If that’s your thing, more power to you! But it is not my thing. So I go with store bought. Same for sauce.

Just a bunch of layers.

How to Make The Best Tortellini

You will need:

• 1 foil roasting pan, or deep casserole dish (I currently do not have one (hint hint Husband), so I get a foil one from the grocery store)
• 1 lb beef
• 1 lb hot sausage (Our favorite is Jimmy Dean)
• ½ C chopped onion
• 2 packages cheese tortellini (I get ours from the refrigerated section of the grocery store, but you can use frozen! Just make sure you’re getting the same amount)
• 1 package grated mozzarella cheese (I use a 2 Cpackage)
• 2 packages grated parmesan cheese (I use the 1.25 C package, and you’ll have some leftover)
• 2 medium size Marinara sauce. (We use Prego.)

Let me clarify what I mean by medium. You know, there’s your standard smallish size pasta sauce right? Then on the other end of the spectrum there’s the huge whopping one that looks like it could feed an army…almost. The medium one is the one in between, so large, but not army large.

Steps:

1. Cook and Drain
   • Beef
   • Sausage
   • Onion
2. Cook and Drain
   • Tortellini
3. Layer in greased casserole dish
   • Sauce (just enough to cover the bottom)
   • ½ Meat mixture
   • ½ bag of Mozzarella cheese
   • ½ tortellini noodles
   • ½ parmesan cheese
     
4. Start again with Prego!
5. Repeat until casserole dish is full to the top. On top should be prego.
6. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes
7. Last 10 minutes, add parmesan to the top
8. Let it rest a few minutes before you serve it.

Now sometimes I make this for families or I freeze it for later, and I don’t want to have to freeze extra cheese or pass along a package with extra instructions! I just want it to be ready to go. In such cases I add the extra parmesan cheese before baking and then just bake as normal with it already on there.

This is a great freezer meal!!! Just note that your cooking times will be longer if it’s frozen rather than thawed.

You can also use just one large jar of sauce, and the results will look like this:

I serve with a toss salad and garlic bread.

Enjoy!

-Tara

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