Quick and Easy Tortellini with Spinach, Mushrooms and Goat Cheese

Just popping in today to share a quick meal idea. I keep thinking in my head “it’s not really a recipe, it’s just some hodge podge meal I threw together that ended up tasting good”- but I guess that’s as much a recipe as anything else, right?!

So here ya go, folks:

Tortellini with Spinach, Mushrooms and Goat Cheese

Ingredients:

1 bag frozen tortellini (You could use fresh too if you are near a good market- either works. But this is a nice meal to make since you can have the frozen tortellini on hand anytime!)

5 cups of baby spinach spinach (sounds like a lot but trust me, it cooks down to nothing)

1 small, 8 oz. log of goat cheese

2 containers of baby bella mushrooms, sliced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 small onion, minced

2 Tablespoons butter

3 Tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

Optional: lemon juice, splash of white wine, or splash of cream

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add garlic and onion and saute until translucent. Add butter until melted. Add mushrooms until tender and slightly browned. Add the spinach in handfuls, adding more to the pan as it begins to wilt and shrink.

2. While the spinach is wilting in the saute pan, bring a pot of water to a boil. Add tortellini and cook according to package directions (mine only took 3 minutes hence making the pasta at the end instead of the beginning like most recipes).

3. Drain tortellini and add to the saute pan with the spinach and mushrooms. Crumble up the whole log of goat cheese on top and toss lightly. Season with salt and pepper.

4. If you like a saucier pasta dish, add any of the following: juice of 1 lemon, splash of white wine or cream- I’d say about 1/4 cup of either. I also think this dish would be awesome A) with bacon or pancetta crumbled throughout and B) served cold for lunch the next day. We had no leftovers so I can’t vouch for that one!

It very honestly only took me about 15 minutes to make from walking in the door to setting it down on the table- so it’s no joke if you are looking for fast. But it delivers on flavor and comfort (and also says, Hey Husband, I didn’t sit on the couch and knit all day- I cooked! ya know… if you need to sneak that in there too…) See husbands? We can do it all!