Slow Cooker Cheese Tortellini

I have made this yummy comfort food dish for at least 8 years and realized I've never made a blogpost about it, so here you go!

Ingredients 

1 (19oz) bag of frozen cheese tortellini

1 small bag of fresh spinach (I used about 2/3 of a 5 oz package)

2 (14.5 oz) cans of Italian style diced tomatoes, drained

1 block (8 oz) of cream cheese** (softened in microwave)

1 lb. of ground sausage or chicken/turkey sausage

3-4 cups of chicken broth (start with 3, add 1 more if it looks like it needs it)

Instructions

1. Brown the sausage and put all ingredients in the slow cooker, chunking up the cream cheese.

2. Cook on low for 4-6 hrs.

Serves 4-6

*Keep an eye on your tortellini, it may be done sooner.
*If still soupy, leave lid off for the last half hour or so of cooking.
*For a vegetarian version, omit sausage and use vegetable broth instead.

**If you use neufachtel (1/3 fat of regular cream cheese) be prepared that it doesn't melt as well and leaves little curds. 

How we make it uniquely our own

1. I've used ground sausage, ground turkey, kielbasa, and chicken sausage links in this recipe in the past and all work very well!. Today I used Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage to add extra flavor to the dish!

2. I forgot to drain the cans of diced tomatoes, but it did not make the dish too soupy. And that is considering I used the full 4 cups of chicken broth (reduced sodium because there is enough sodium already in the tomatoes).

3.  I served garlic breadsticks with the tortellini to better sop up every bit of the sauce!  I heated a 6-count box of Food Lion brand garlic breadsticks (only $1.39!) and they tasted as good as the ones from Olive Garden IMO!

Our thoughts

If you're looking for a great comfort food dish that is good served year-round, this is it!  The spinach & tomatoes blend so well in the sauce and with the sausage.  The dish is hearty, but not heavy.  Next time, I plan to pull out a nice red wine to complete the Italian meal feel!

Slow Cooker Shrimp Chowder

This week we were in the mood for a seafood dish for #SlowCookerFriday and decided a good chowder would be perfect. I found this easy recipe for shrimp chowder from Taste of Home to serve with grilled cheese.

Ingredients

1/2 chopped onion

2 tsp butter

2 cans (12 oz each) evaporated milk

2 cans (10.75 oz each) condensed cream of potato soup, undiluted

2 cans (10.75 oz each) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1 can (7 oz) white or shoepeg corn, drained

1 tsp Creole seasoning

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 lbs peeled & deveined cooked small shrimp

3 oz cream cheese, cubed

Instructions

In a small skillet, saute onion in butter until tender. In a 5-qt. slow cooker, combine the onion, milk, soups, corn, Creole seasoning and garlic powder.

Cover and cook on low for 3 hours. Stir in shrimp and cream cheese. Cook 30 minutes longer or until shrimp are heated through and cheese is melted. Stir to blend.

What we did differently...it's what we do!

1.  I tend to have a heavy hand with seasonings, and extra Creole seasoning tasted just fine!

2. My bags of frozen shrimp were 12 oz, so I bought 3, giving me 4 extra ounces of shrimp. You know I put all the shrimp in!

Our thoughts

We thought this recipe tasted like an authentic chowder. It had the right consistency and the extra shrimp were welcomed.  Grilled cheese was the perfect vehicle to mop up the bowl and there are leftovers aplenty!  I see this dish being a regular offering this winter!