Creamy Lemon Tortellini Bake

• Meat

  • 2 slices Bacon, center cut

• Produce

  • 1 1/2 tsp Basil, dried
  • 3 Garlic cloves
  • 2 tsp Lemon, zest
  • 2 cups Spinach, fresh

• Condiments

  • 1 tbsp Lemon juice, freshly squeezed

• Pasta & Grains

  • 1 12 oz package Cheese & spinach tortellini, dry

• Baking & Spices

  • 1/8 tsp Black pepper
  • 2 tbsp Flour
  • 1/4 tsp Red pepper flakes
  • 3/4 tsp Salt

• Dairy

  • 1 1/2 oz Parmesan cheese
  • 2 cups Skim milk

• Other

  • 2/3 cup Reduced fat 2% shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

Found on emilybites.com

Ingredients

• 12 oz package of dry Cheese & Spinach Tortellini (I used Barilla – find in the dry pasta aisle)
• 2 slices center cut bacon
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups skim milk
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 ½ teaspoons dried basil
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 2 cups fresh spinach, loose, not packed
• 1 ½ oz Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• 2/3 cup reduced fat 2% shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided

Directions

• Pre-heat the oven to 350. Lightly coat an 8×8 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. Cook the tortellini in a large pot according to package directions. Meanwhile, place bacon in a sauté pan or large skillet and bring over medium-high heat. Cook for 7-9 minutes until crisp. Remove bacon from the pan and place on paper towels to dry. Leave one tablespoon of bacon grease in the pan (if you have less than that like I did you may want to add a little butter to make up the difference. I counted one tablespoon of bacon grease in the recipe builder. If you want to make this vegetarian then just skip the bacon altogether and use butter). Add the garlic to the bacon grease and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add flour to the pan and whisk into grease. Add the milk slowly and continue to whisk until combined. Add the salt, pepper, basil and red pepper flakes and stir. Bring sauce to a simmer. Once sauce is simmering, add lemon juice and lemon zest to sauce. Stir until thickened, 2-3 minutes and remove from heat. Drain the tortellini and place back into the pot. Crumble the bacon and set aside. Add the spinach along with most of the Parmesan and the Mozzarella (reserve some of each to sprinkle on top). Add the sauce and stir everything together to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and sprinkle the remaining Parmesan, Mozzarella and bacon over the top. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake uncovered for 5-10 more minutes.