Oh. My. Goodness. This was hard. I asked my husband for a week straight what his favorite meal was.

He had no answer.

Or if he did have an answer, it changed daily. Or hourly. And sometimes even minutely.

*Glee* He likes everything I make.

His favorite answer tonight, though, was Cheesy Chicken Tortellini Bake.

And he squealed with delight when I told him that’s actually what I’m making tomorrow.

It’s easy, quick, and a tasty way to use leftover chicken from a roast.

Cheesy Chicken Tortellini Bake

Ingredients:

1/2 c. chopped onion
1 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 jar (16 oz) Alfredo sauce
2 packages (9 oz ea) refrigerated cheese-filled regular or spinach tortellini
1 1/2 c. cubed cooked chicken
1 c. water
1 c. frozen peas
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbs snipped fresh basil leaves or 1 tsp died basil leaves

Crumb topping:
1/4 c. (1 oz) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
2 tbs butter, melted
1 c. fresh bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 400°¹. Chop the onion. Use half, store the other half in a baggy in the fridge. Use for omelettes, quesadillas, or any other onion-y type meal in the near future.
2. In a 4 qt. pot, heat oil over medium-high heat; add onion and garlic. Cook and stir 2-3 minutes until onion is tender. Stir in Alfredo sauce, tortellini, chicken, milk, water, peas, and black pepper. Heat until mixture just comes to a boil; remove from heat. Stir basil into pasta mixture.
3. Meanwhile, for crumb topping, grate Parmesan cheese² and melt butter. Stir in bread crumbs³ and cheese; mix well.
4. Spoon pasta mixture into a casserole dish that holds about 8 cups. Sprinkle with crumb topping. Bake 15-20 minutes or until edges are bubbly and topping is golden brown.

¹ Look! I can make a degree mark! You can do it, too! Press and hold the Alt key while also typing ‘0176’ ON THE NUMBER PAD.  Release the Alt key.

² Buy fresh Parmesan cheese, cut into 1 oz cubes, freeze in a baggy. They last forever (okay, not literally). And they are easier to grate while half frozen anyway. Just take out a cube when you start gathering your ingredients and it should be ready to grate by the time you’re ready to start on the topping.

³ Save the crusts and heels of your bread. Throw them into a baggy in your freezer. (My freezer is FULL of random baggies, can you tell?) When you need fresh bread crumbs, take out this bag and either use a hand-held cheese grater or a food processor to reduce your crusts to nice fresh bread crumbs.

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What is your family’s favorite dinner? Share your recipe with us! Link to your recipe post, NOT your homepage, and be sure to include a brief description after your name on Mr. Linky! (So I can find you later when I’m looking for something new for dinner.) And thanks, all, for keeping it family friendly!

Next week on Recipe Swap: Dinners – Fancy Schmancy. What do you make for special occasions? What recipe makes you salivate, but requires a babysitter? What meal made you sit back and simply glow because you were so impressed you actually made it all by yourself? Share with us, next week!