Crock Pot Cheesy Italian Tortellini

More often than not, I use my crock pot when I won't be home to eat dinner with my family, or we're eating at different times.  When I made this meal recently, I was not going to be home.  The majority of the dish is placed in the crock pot hours before serving, the only thing my guys had to do was add the tortellini about 15 minutes before serving and then top each dish with the mozzarella cheese I had already shredded for them.  I also requested they take pictures of the last few steps for this blog.  Jimmy handled these tasks for me and did a fine job; thank you, Jimmy!

I found this recipe in one of those magazines that are sold near the checkout stand at the market many years ago.  The recipe says it yields 4 to 6 servings, but my guys ate every last drop with no leftovers and there are only 3 of them!  This time, this dish got one 7, one 8 and one 9 on the Melnarik rating scale.  The person (who shall remain nameless!) who gave the 7 said it was a little heavy on the tomato taste for him.  I didn't tell him I used a different brand of marinara sauce this time.  Perhaps that lowered his rating from the 8 it used to be.

I begin by putting the Italian sausage in a large saucepan and cook it over medium heat until browned.  As it cooks, I keep turning the mean and breaking it up with my spoon.

Once the sausage is fully cooked, I drain off any fat and place it in my pre-heated crock pot.  Hint:  Hot foods should always be placed in a pre-heated crock pot and cold foods in a cool crock pot to heat together.

To the sausage, I add the marinara sauce, fresh mushrooms, and canned tomatoes.

Those ingredients get stirred together to combine.  The crock pot gets covered and the dish is cooked on low for 7 to 8 hours.  Hint:  For most recipes, if you need to lessen the amount of time for cooking, placing your crock pot on the high heat setting will cut the cooking time in half.  For example, a dish cooked on low for 8 hours can be cooked on high for 4 hours.  In this case, by the time everything was in the crock pot, there was only 5 hours before dinner time, so I cooked it on high for 2 hours (which equalled 4 hours on low) followed by 3 hours on low, which gave me the same result as 7 hours on the low setting.

This is how it looks after the full cooking time.  

About 15 minutes before serving, the refrigerated tortellini is added.

The tortellini gets stirred into the sauce, the lid is placed back on the crock pot, and it is cooked for an additional 15 minutes.  This is the perfect amount of time to throw together a quick salad and/or garlic bread!

I find this dish is best served in a bowl, and topped with shredded mozzarella cheese .  As you can see from the picture above, my guys really like cheese!  Enjoy!

Crock Pot Cheesy Italian Tortellini

1 pound bulk Italian sausage

1 container (15 oz.) refrigerated marinara sauce

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1 can (14 1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes with Italian herbs, undrained

1 package (9 oz.) refrigerated cheese tortellini

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 

Cook sausage in a medium saucepan or skillet over medium heat about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown; drain.  Add sausage to pre-heated 4- to 5-quart crock pot.   Add marinara sauce, mushrooms, and tomatoes; stir to combine.  Cover and cook on low heat setting 7 to 8 hours.  Stir in tortellini; cover and cook on low heat setting about 15 minutes longer or until tortellini is tender.  Top each serving with mozzarella cheese.