Before school started, Kylie made a list of the snacks and lunch items she’d want for the school year. I told her we’d be happy to buy her a meal card, even though she’d decided to live at home.  Most important to her was keeping a healthy diet, so she did a lot of research on “good for you” lunches that she could enjoy.  It turns out, with her schedule, she is able to eat lunch at home every day, which is awesome, because Kylie and I get to sit down to lunch together either after school (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) or before school (Tuesdays and Thursdays). Three days a week Kylie gets home between 1:00 and 1:30 and I wait for her so that we can enjoy lunch together and talk about her day. Days like today, she will eat before she goes and we can chat about what’s to come for the rest of her day. I consider myself so lucky that even though my daughter is in college, we still get to share our meals together.

One of the lunch ideas that came up, as she was doing her research on healthy lunches and snacks, was tortellini. I thought I’d get her lunch prepared today for her today while she was upstairs getting ready. In the refrigerator, I noticed I had a package of tortellini so I decided to make that for her. I also had uncooked broccoli left over from yesterday’s stuffed potato recipe. I decided I’d boil the broccoli together with the tortellini and while that was cooking, I’d make a little lemon, garlic, and olive oil sauce for the pasta.

I added a lot of broccoli to the tortellini. I wanted it to be a vegetable heavy lunch. For my sauce, I cooked two cloves of garlic in a quarter cup of olive oil. After about 45 seconds, I added the juice of one lemon and continued to let my sauce simmer for about 3 minutes. To the sauce I added my drained, cooked tortellini and broccoli, as well as fresh grated parmesan and red pepper flakes.

This dish was very fresh tasting with the broccoli and lemon … it could even be served cold the next day for lunch. Our lunch was prepared in next to no time at all!

Ingredients

• 1 10 ounce package of refrigerated tortellini

• 1-2 cups cooked broccoli (I used 2)

• 2 tablespoons shredded parmesan

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 2 cloves minced garlic

• zest and juice of 1 lemon

• 1/8 cup shredded parmesan

• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

1. Cook tortellini and broccoli in salted, boiling water.
2. Heat olive oil in small saucepan, adding minced garlic. Cook for 45 seconds.
3. Add juice of lemon and let simmer for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add tortellini and broccoli to sauce.
5. Sprinkle lemon zest and red pepper flakes over pasta and broccoli.
6. Add shredded parmesan to pan and mix together.

Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris