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So, as many of you know, I’m huge and pregnant. This baby should be making his appearance by the end of the month! Holy cow. Did that just sneak up on me? I think yes. My baby belly is seriously getting too big in front of me… so much so that I have to stand sideways to do dishes and/or cook anything in the kitchen. Basically, I’ve capped my dinner-making ability at 30 minutes. If I can’t get it done in that time, then we go get pizza —> I’m not even kidding.
Well, conveniently, Land O’Lakes asked me to participate in their Weeknight Wins Blogger Challenge using their brand-new product called Sauté Express® Sauté Starter—basically a one-stop shop (aka magical butter and herb squares) for throwing yummy and easy dinners together in under 30 minutes. Just what this momma needs! I’m going to be using this brand-new product to develop some new dinner ideas that are fast and simple and you’re going to love!
This first week, four other bloggers and I were challenged to make a dinner with Sauté Express® Sauté Starter that would please the pickiest of eaters. Along with the recipes I’ll be sharing on Lauren’s Latest, you can follow the challenge on Pinterest and pin your favorite recipes. Check it out over at the Weeknight Wins by Sauté Express® Sauté Starter Pinterest Board. Plus, each week there will be a sweepstakes to enter. Yay!
Do you know how I deal with feeding picky eaters? I yell at them and then throw them out of my house.
Duh.
I mean… just kidding.
Only some of them get kicked out.
I deal with picky eaters with CHEESE. Oh, and pasta.
It always works! I have no idea why every kid loves cheesy noodles, but somehow it’s embedded in their DNA to love all things Italian. Is that just a “my family” thing? I don’t think so. Anyways, I made some Italian Herb Baked Cheesy Tortellini using the Italian Herb Sauté Express® Sauté Starter and got it done in 30 minutes! It was cheesy, delicious and super filling! My 4-year-old gobbled it up!
Here’s how you make it:
First things first. Get some water boiling for that tortellini! It’ll only take two minutes to cook, but you want to give the water a head start. Pretend I took a picture of that. ANYWAY, now you can start out with some Italian Herb Sauté Express® Sauté Starter…
Four little squares to be exact! Get those melting into your pan over medium heat.
Add in some diced onion and sauté for 3 minutes.
Next add your zucchini and cook for another 3 minutes.
You’re going to want to cook off some cheese tortellini at some point too. 
Back to the sauce. Add in a can of petite diced tomatoes and salt and pepper if you’d like. Since all the flavoring is in the Sauté Express Sauté Starter, I just added a tiny bit of salt! Easy peasy! No messing around with bottles of basil or oregano! See what I mean about one-stop shop?
Ok, so once your sauce has cooked down and the veggies are tender, stir in that cooked tortellini with some shaved parmesan cheese.
Then top the whole thing with a healthy layer of mozzarella and place under the broiler.
Two minutes later and dinner is done!
Hello cheesy goodness!
So yummy, you guys!! 
Feel free to top with more cheese and a little parsley if you want to be fancy.
So, in about 30 minutes, I had this dinner on the table! Not too shabby if I say so myself! My husband and I loved it and through a little convincing so did my 4-year-old! {The layer of melty cheese won her over.}
Here’s the printable! Enjoy!
Italian Herb Baked Cheese Tortellini
Ingredients
- 1 lb cheese tortellini fresh or frozen
- 4 cubes Italian Herb Saute Express Saute Starter
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 small zucchini diced
- 14.5 oz petite diced tomatoes 1 can
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup shaved parmesan cheese
- 1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
- parsley for garnish optional
Instructions
- Bring large pot of water to boil. While waiting for water to boil, prep veggies. Heat deep skillet over medium heat and saute onion, 3 minutes. Stir in zucchini and cook another 3 minutes until onions and zucchini are tender. Salt water and cook tortellini according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- Stir tomatoes, salt and pepper into softened veggies. Simmer lightly for 5 minutes. Stir in cooked tortellini and parmesan cheese. Sprinkle top with mozzarella cheese and place under broiler until cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve hot.
Nutrition
Disclosure: I’ve partnered with Land O’Lakes for an exclusive endorsement of
Sauté Express® Sauté Starter. This blog post is sponsored by Land O’Lakes. All opinions are my own.
I would definitely try your cheesy tortellini, It looks so good!
My weeknight win is anything Mexican. The boys in the house can’t resist Mexican food.
There’s no little ones in the house, my husband and I usually agree on eating a quick meal of a ham and cheese omelet when we don’t want to cook a big meal.
I would use the saute express with shrimp.
Homemade pizzas or soft tacos are always the surefire bet to please the two picky eaters in my house!
This tortellini looks amazing! I saw these Saute Starters in the grocery store & I was intrigued! This post made me put them (and the other ingredients for this dish!) on my grocery list.
Our go-to weeknight//toddler-approved meal is simple spaghetti and meatballs. with cheese!
My family loves just about anything with pasta. This Italian Herb Sauté Express® Sauté Starter is going to make my homemade pasta dishes so much better! Can’t wait to try this!
I have an extremely picky eater in my house, a 6 year old boy who will barely eat a grilled cheese sandwich. I bet he would like your tortellini minus the last 8 ingredients on the recipe list! My go to for him is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I do make homemade sourdough soft pretzels that both my kids love but its more of a lunch than a dinner. My go to for the rest of the family is a panini loaded with whatever needs to be used up in the fridge, meat, cheese, vegetables and even fruit. Sometimes we call them garbage paninis.
Anything with pasta and cheese. Your recipe looks fabulous! I would start with that
Oh another great giveaway, & this looks like a really good recipe to try when I have kids over that maybe picky!
Oh yes this like a really good recipe again…& I love your giveaways….Thanks for letting me enter. 🙂
My weeknight win for all of us (all picky!) is my cheesy tortellini. Cheese tortellini, shredded chicken, a make-shift alfredo sauce, and bacon! Bacon makes everything better, right?!?
I’ve tried the lemon Saute Express before, and I have to admit, I was a bit hesitant at first. I mean, it’s just butter with herbs, right? Wrong! I grilled some chicken with it, and the flavor was so amazing! It turned out so delicious, and now I want to try all the flavors!
You can’t go wrong with mac n’ cheese!
Spaghetti w/smoked sausage. Everyone loves it, it’s super easy, and also quick to throw together. This dish, however, looks amazing. 😉
For picky eaters we usually do tacos, but also sometimes ham and cheese sliders.
Would love to try the Saute Express starters to bring a new dimension to our current somewhat boring meals
I use this to sauté all my chicken. My picky eater loves it!
Anything with no flavor or with cheese. Plain pasta, Mac & cheese, pb & j.
Udon noodle soup for my picky eaters!
I am my own picky eater, so when I try new goods that I used to hate, I always start small and mix it in with something that I like. I used to hate tomatoes, but I found that by cooking them first, I liked them. Now I eat them raw- I am converted!
I have used saute express for chicken, but I have never thought about using it for pasta! Great idea. I think I want to try that next time!
Oddly enough my picky eaters don’t care for meat but veggies, and fruit and of course the unhealthy snacks. Roasted crispy potatoes, Crispy polenta are always a winner.
Peanut butter honey sandwiches. For some reason when I was pregnant with my first I could not eat a PB&H without vomiting but now it is sometimes the only thing he will eat all day, well, that I’m aware of. Ooh, I bet using these saute starter things on grilled cheese with some veggies tossed would be amazing. Oooh….
This looks delicious!! My go to quick meal is pizza or Mac n cheese!
The garlic and herb would be perfect to melt down and then brush on the top of breadsticks fresh from the oven.
I don’t please picky eaters. 🙂 I teach them to appreciate what I make or they can go hungry! (Is that mean?) I make good, balanced meals and someday my children won’t be children…they’ll be adults. And they will appreciate a wide range of cuisine (or at least that’s my plan!).
I think I would make tacos to please my picky eaters! That way everyone can pick their own toppings to their liking!
Oh my that recipe looks yummy. My go to weekday meal is chicken and veggies b/c my kids will eat it, I need to get them to jazz it up!
I would make Lemon Pepper Chicken with Summer Squash & Zucchini.
I would make this Garlic and Herb Chicken Fettuccini! http://www.inthekitchenwithkp.com/recipe/garlic-and-herb-chicken-fettuccine-sauteexpress-sundaysupper
A definite weeknight win to please a picky eater is to go the route you went and make a pasta dish. Nothing beats pasta, veggies, sauce, and a proten like chicken or fish!
My favorite weeknight dinner is my Mom’s Stroganoff recipe. Everyone loves it.
I’m not even joking – I would totally make this skillet dish!
To please my picky daughter I let her go grocery shopping with me and pick out some things she likes and fruits and veggies she may would like to try! We have so much fun! We also prepare some of her food together creating fun shapes like cutting her sandwiches with cookie cutters. She loves it! This also allows us to spend a fun time together!
for our picky eater we do a Potato Bar, there is always something they like that they put on. I think your sauce might even be tasty bare on the potato.
on a really picky weeknight we have fruit salad and cheese sticks and pretzels or crackers.
I would make homemade individual pizzas to please a picky eater! Not only is it great because they can take part in “decorating” the pizza with the toppings of their choice, but I think even the pickiest eaters can handle a cheese pizza! Or, I would make this recipe–it looks very yummy!
My Hubby can be pretty picky about what he eats. Our win-win meal is breaded chicken over white rice. Works every time.
I would use the butter to make rice since my family is more of a rice-lover than pasta!
I would saute lots of veggies! And would probably have to make this pasta dish too 🙂
My go to with a picky eater? Mac and Cheese, but really she will eat anything with ranch dressing! Love to try this yummy dish!!
I think I would make something similar with tortellini but I’d also add Chicken or shrimp. Really excited to try these.
If I want a quick meal I either do grilled cheese w/ a recipe for a super fast and easy italian tomato soup or tacos.
I would use the Italian Herb Saute Express to make your recipe because it looks really good and I would make Chicken parmesan as well.
Dessert!!! I bribe with dessert and there is usually a clean plate or close to!!!
Spaghetti & meatballs is my picky-eater fall back. Unfortunately, that’s the ONLY meal my picky eater eats without coaxing.
Thanks for the fun giveaway!
My husband is the pickiest! I often resort to either pasta tossed with minced garlic that has been sauteed in butter topped with parmesan or a turkey burger for him (veggie for me), mashed potatoes and a veggie or salad. Would really like to try these Saute Express starters to ‘spice things up’ a bit! And a great saute pan would be a real boon!
I would make mac & cheese to please a picky eater. Who doesn’t like make and cheese?
Add some garlic and herb Land O’Lakes butter and we have a meal!
I am totally going to try that recipe! Right now the easiest way to please my little ones is chicken nuggets and mac&cheese.