Ever want a quick meal with store bought items but taste gourmet?  We have this pasta dish that does just that.  We make this every so often.  If it were left to Brian, we would have this dish more than we do!  Our problem with making it is, that we feel the need to make a big pile of pasta and, well, it’s only the two of us.  We have, on occasion, farmed some out to family and friends.  One of our neighbors who lives across the hall is a college student, so we love feeding him because we know that he could also use a good home cooked meal.

If anyone is our neighbors and wants to be put on rotation, just let me know!  We will be more than happy to pass some leftovers along, because remember, Brian doesn’t typically eat leftovers.  I currently have 3 containers in my fridge right now of this dish.  Again, we make too much food! My theory is that this stems from years and years of Brian feeding anywhere from 50-300 people at one time.  Cooking for 2 is a piece of cake for him!

So, here is the recipe for you to give it a go!

Beef & Sausage Tortellini

1 lb ground beef

1 lb Italian Sausage

1 package sliced mushrooms

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1-24 oz prepared pasta sauce of your choosing

1-15 oz four cheese Alfredo sauce of your choosing

1-20 oz package of prepared three cheese tortellini

1-8 oz container of cherry tomato bite size fresh mozzarella balls

1 tbsp fresh chopped garlic

1 cup water

1 tbsp beef base paste

2 tsp Italian seasoning (separated)

2 tsp garlic powder (separated)

Pinch of Red pepper flakes

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Fresh grated parmesan cheese (optional)

In a 12” saute pan, cook Italian sausage and ground beef.  Season the ground beef and sausage with 1 tsp of garlic powder and 1 tsp of Italian seasoning.

Once the meat is cooked, remove all meat and transfer to a plate to slightly cool, however leave the oil in the saute pan.  You’re gonna use that!

You are gonna want to chop up the sausage in bite size pieces if you are using whole sausage, which is what we usually use.  We like a good bite of sausage when eating this dish, however you could use ground Italian sausage if you prefer.

In the saute pan with the oil from the meat, mix in 1 package of mushrooms, one diced onion, 1 tbsp of chopped garlic, tablespoon of beef base paste, 1tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp Italian seasoning and two shakes of red pepper flakes (more if you like things super spicy).  Saute those until tender.

Turn veggies to low and add the meat to the vegetables.  Stir occasionally on low for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a 3 quart sauce pan, combine one 24 oz jar of prepared marinara sauce of your choosing and one 15 oz jar of four cheese Alfredo sauce of your choice. After we dump the sauces together, we typically add about 1/2 cup of water to each of the empty jars of sauce to get every little bit of sauce out of those jars as well as thin out the sauce somewhat.  Swish that water around the jar to get all the sauce and simply pour the watered down sauce to the mixed sauces in your sauce pan.  Easy peazy!

Now, take your meat and veggie mixture and transfer to the sauce.  Simmer on low for about 30 minutes.

Cook tortellini as per package directions.  We use Buitoni three cheese that is in the refrigeration section—not frozen.

 

Once tortellini is cooked, drain, and add cooked tortellini to the meat/veggie sauce mixture.  Stir until all incorporated.

Add a large portion of store bought grated parmesan cheese (your general Kraft brand will do).  We thoroughly enjoy cheese in our house, so I would say we generally put about 1 cup of that stuff.  And, if that wasn’t good enough, we add these little bite size balls of mozzarella cheese.  We add most of the 8 oz container of bite size balls—we have a couple as appetizers while we are preparing the dish.

Stir the mixture until everything is well incorporated.  Spoon some out on a plate—or bowl which is our preference—and if you are feeling extra adventurous, grate some fresh, high quality parmesan cheese on top for more cheesiness.

We enjoy ours with garlic bread.  Store bought of course.

Makes enough to serve 6-8 hefty portions.

Enjoy!