Saturday, April 21, 2012

Tortellini with Edamame and Smoked Sausage



I found this recipe on Family Fun's website a few weeks back. They posted it under the budget meals recipe category. Who can resist making something that only costs 89 cents per serving.

I jotted down all the ingredients last week. Most of the items in the recipe are frozen items so I can buy them when on sale and save them for a future meal that I have to throw together.

I picked up everything on the list and thought "89 cents per serving, I don't think so".  The store brand tortellini was $2.69 a pound, edamame was $2.89 for an 8 oz frozen package and the smoked sausage was on sale for $2.50. Geez now I have to buy a red bell pepper?! Well I never did buy that pepper. I ended up using a large yellow onion that I had on hand.  After all was said and done, this meal ended up costing $1.34 per serving (6 servings).  This wasn't too bad for a meal. The three of us ate and was full and I still had two more servings for lunch during the week.

Well here's the recipe. Let me know if you can make it for 89 cents per serving.

What ya need:
1 pound frozen cheese tortellini
1 cup shelled edamame
1 cup diced red pepper
1 pound smoked sausage
1/2 cup Italian dressing

What ya do:
Set 6 quarts of salted water to boil in a large pot.
Meanwhile, chop red pepper and slice the smoked sausage into 1/4 inch-thick rounds.
Stir-fry red pepper and sausage together until heated through -- about 5 minutes.
Add tortellini to boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.
Add edamame to water and boil for another 2 minutes. Drain tortellini and edamame well.
Toss everything together with the Italian dressing and heat through one final time.

michaela desiree