Level of Effort: Easy
Nutrition Info (1 serving):  433 calories, 15.4 g fat, 15.5 g protein, 3.6 g fiber, 105 g carbs

Moving into your first apartment is awesome!

The downside is you have fend for your own food :'(.

Unless you have lots of excess cash at your disposal to buy all your meals,  you’ll have to cook every now and then.

It’s not as bad as it sounds – the secret is not to make a huge mess to clean-up afterwards ;).

If you own a casserole dish, and have access to an oven, then you’re qualified to make a delicious meal with minimal mess.

This Tortellini Pizza Bake recipe is the perfect candidate for a less mess meal!

It’s a cinch to prepare, easy to freeze for later (if you don’t want to cook it right away) and it smells like pizza when it cooks in the oven! How comforting is that?

Plus it’ll fill the biggest hunger void at a fraction of the cost of many frozen meals available at the grocery store.

Enjoy the tortellini and thanks for stopping by the cafe! Cheers!

For more “Less Mess” Recipes (and tips on how to hone your talents in the kitchen) get the Cafe’s Weekly Updates. Comes with a Digital Cup of Recipes – it’s on me!

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Cheese Tortellini Pizza Bake

Baked cheese filled tortellini with pizza sauce, pepperoni and melted cheese.

MAKES: 4 Helpings

Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 25 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 454 g frozen cheese tortellini or ravioli
• 1 can (12 oz / 375 ml) pizza sauce
• 1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• pepperoni slices, about 10 to 12 (optional)  
• 1/2 cup (packed) grated mozzarella cheese 

HOW TO MAKE

1. Cook tortellini as per package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of cooking water into a measuring cup (the water will help make the sauce creamy).
2. Drain pasta water from pot. Add pizza sauce, Parmesan cheese, green peppers and cooking water to pot. Stir to mix pasta with sauce.  
3. Evenly pasta mixture in an 8 x 8 casserole dish.
4. Top with pepperoni slices and cheese.
5. Cook in a 400 F oven for 10 minutes. Set oven to broil for the last 2 minutes to lightly brown cheese on top.