What's for Dinner Tonight? College Edition: Slow Cooker Cheesy Tortellini

The girls were cooking again tonight and they did a great, easy meal for college students. Did I mention easy?

Grab the crockpot, a bag of tortellini, make a quick meat sauce and serve with a side Caesar salad and Sister Schubert rolls and you've got gourmet goin' on.

The great thing about the crockpot, especially for the girls, is that when the get home from class, they throw everything in, go about their business, and voila! 4 hours later they've got dinner ready. Everything goes together in a jif so that they can get back to their studying (yes, I said studying).

Slow Cooker Cheesy Tortellini, courtesy of Damn Delicious on Pinterest:

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 pound ground beef

• 1 onion, diced

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

• 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chilies, untrained

• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil

• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• 1 (9 ounce) package refrigerated three cheese tortellini

• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.

2. Add ground beef, onion and garlic. Cook until beef has browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat.

3. Place ground beef mixture, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes and green chilies, oregano, basil and red pepper flakes into a slow cooker; season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir until well combined.

4. Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 3-4 hours.

5. Uncover and stir in tortellini; top with cheeses.

6. Cover and cook on low heat for an additional 15-30 minutes, or until tender.

7. Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.

#maindish #pasta #slowcooker