Terrific Turkey Tortellini Bake

Here is a good recipe I just whipped up tonight using some leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. I also had a bag of meat tortellini in the freezer that I wanted to use so this worked out perfectly. Actually, now that I think of it, you could use any non-stuffed pasta as well. Then it would be more like a mac n cheese.

This terrific bake also incorporates a green of your choice, since its cold weather now, collard greens are in abundance this time of the year. Be sure to pick out a very delicious looking bunch! The greens I picked out were huge so I only used a few of the leaves.

Ingredients:
2 cups low fat milk or fat free half and half + milk
1 bag frozen tortellini, meat or cheese
1 cup shredded cheese of your choice
1 bunch collard greens
1 onion, chopped
1 cup chopped turkey
Garlic, minced
1 tsp dried basil
3 tbsp flour
olive oil

Boil a large pot of water, wash your greens and then add the whole leaves to the pot. Boil for about 3 minutes, remove and chop. Allow the water to continue boiling, his will be for your tortellini.

In a large skillet, bring some olive oil to medium heat. Saute the onions until soft, add chopped turkey, garlic and collard greens. Let this cook down as you want the greens to soften up a lot and add basil. Collards and kale are known to hold their shape through a lot of cooking, so you could always substitute with spinach, just saute for a lot less longer.

In a small saucepan, add some more olive oil and add the flour. Whisk together, this is your roux. Allow the roux to cook for a couple minutes and then slowly add your milk, stirring constantly. Don't let this heat up too quickly or your milk could curdle, so pay attention! When the milk is thoroughly heated, add a cup of cheese. If the milk sauce is too thin, make a cornstarch slurry and add it to the milk to create a thickened sauce.

Next, add the vegetable turkey mixture to the pasta and mix, add to a glass baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Add the cheese sauce and top with the remaining cheese. Bake at 375F for about 30 minutes until browned.