Try Something New Tuesday

Starting every Tuesday, I will be writing about something new that I've cooked, crafted, sewn, whatever! It'll mainly be food related....because I love food! :) I am also a lacto-ovo-pescatarian (I consume milk, eggs and fish) and want to try new recipes and learn new stuff! I hope you enjoy what I bring to the table, whatever it may be, and possibly find yourself venturing out and trying new things too!

I am a huge advocate for buying literally everything on sale. I rarely pay full price anything nowadays. A couple weeks ago I bought some three cheese tortellini thinking I'd put something together...and of course never got to it, until now! Typical me, haha! I looked up multiple recipes on Pinterest and finally found one that looked and sounded amazing. So I got started!

It's called Creamy Spinach Tomato Tortellini. Holy goodness! It was amazing! And I know it's summertime so a warm pasta dish isn't ideal, but with this July weather we've been having, I'm going to say it's acceptable. As I went through the recipe I started doing my own thing and it still turned out great. Here's ingredients and directions! Bon appetit!

Ingredients:

1 12 oz package three cheese tortellini (refrigerated or dry)

2 Tbsp butter

All the spices, milk, tomatoes, butter, garlic
and spinach ready to get eaten! :)

1 Tbsp minced garlic

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 tsp onion powder

3 Tbsp basil

1 Tbsp oregano

1 1/4 cups milk (anything but skim)

1 (14.5 oz) can of Italian style diced tomatoes (any kind will do) 

1 1/2 roughly chopped spinach (I love spinach so I threw in 2 1/2 cups)

Salt, pepper and parmesan to taste

Directions:

Cook tortellini according to directions on package. (I waited to start the sauce until after I boiled, drained and set the tortellini aside.)

In a large, deep skillet melt your butter over medium heat and add garlic. Saute. Add flour, onion powder, basil and oregano. Whisking constantly for about a minute. Keep in mind your mixture will look dry in the pan, but that's normal! Next, increase heat to high-medium and slowly add the milk, stirring constantly until it starts to thicken. Once the mixture has thickened, add in the tomatoes and spinach and let it simmer. The spinach will wilt and that's totally normal when heat comes into play. Make sure not to stir too much though due to the delicacy of the spinach and tomatoes.

Once the sauce has thickened, add the tortellini and gently stir both mixtures together. (Note that the pasta will begin to absorb some of the sauce, so if need be add a little more milk or water to thin it out.) Top it off with parmesan and let the flavors sink in!

All done! It it such a nice colorful dish!

Make sure to whisk your
milk, flour and spices constantly
else it will become dry.

Add the spinach and tomatoes.

 I LOVED this dish! It lasted me five meals! (I even froze some for later.) It's definitely easy to make and can be changed to your desire!

Along with this, this past weekend was 4th of July. Unfortunately, I had to work both Friday and Saturday, but Sunday I had the chance to go to St. Louis for my sisters baby shower. It was such a blast. I was beyond excited to see all of my siblings together with our parents and everyone else. It was such a blessing for all of us to be there, even if it was for a few hours. Check out the pictures! :)

All of us kids! I am one lucky gal
to have all of these people in my life!

James. That's all. Haha :)