Cheesy Sausage Tortellini

What a day. And not in s good way either. I had a busy day at work, and stayed late to do some lesson planning. Then, I came home to baby Lana, who had diarrhea all over her crate. I take her outside, she pees, poops, and comes back in. She drinks a bunch of water and then vomits all over the area rug.

This is about the 7th day that she has vomited or regurgitated her food. Wonderful. She's still got an appetite and she is playful as ever. A call to the vet was put. Of course, she looks healthy, temp is normal, stomach feels fine. She is now on antibiotics and a bland diet of boiled chicken, hamburg and white rice. Chicken is boiled, rice is on the stove now. Hopefully, this works and she just has some sort of bug. Paws crossed!

Dan and I both spent some time cleaning up her messes. I decided to make dinner early so we could eat before the vet, just in case we had to wait around for anything. Luckily, I didn't have to change my dinner plan. This meal is quick and easy, great for a night where you don't have a lot of time, or your stress level is on high and you don't have much focus or energy for cooking. I had most of the ingredients on hand, all I really needed was the turkey kielbasa and the tortellini. We actually almost always have a pack of tortellini in the fridge. We are tortellini lovers in this house! I doubled the recipe for the sauce and tortellini, since Dan usually has a big appetite and left overs are always welcome. Below is the original recipe, not the doubled one.

Dan isn't big on red sauce, but this sauce has a great creaminess due to the heavy cream and some great flavor due to the chicken broth and that I added a roasted garlic Parmesan spaghetti sauce. If you have a spaghetti sauce of choice, use it, it's way better than plain old tomato sauce.

Unless you're into plain old tomato sauce....

Cheesy Sausage Tortellini
from Kevin and Amanda

1 package turkey sausage kielbasa
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup tomato sauce or your favorite spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup chicken broth
9 oz. refrigerated tortellini (such as Buitoni)

1. Cut kielbasa into small slices.
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Let the oil get good and hot. Add the kielbasa, cooking for a few minutes until nice and browned on both sides.
3. Add the garlic and stir. Cook 30 seconds until fragrant.
4. Add the tomato sauce*, cream, broth and tortellinis and stir to combine. Bring to a nice bubbly boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Sprinkle some cheese on top and enjoy!

**If using plain tomato sauce, now is the time to add some spices and seasonings if you'd like. Maybe some salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, parsley, oregano, red pepper flakes for some heat...sky's the limit!

Oh, and remember how I said leftovers are always welcome? Yeah, there were none. Dan really, really liked this dish!