Cherry Tomato Tortellini

This quick meal is perfect for a quick weeknight dinner. It relies on nutritious store-bought items and gets jazzed up with deliciously sweet roasted cherry tomatoes. This recipe comes to us from Diana K. Rice, RD, The Baby Steps Dietitian.

Makes 6 servings

Cooking Tip of the Week: Roasting tomatoes caramelizes the sugars they contain, making them sweeter! But keep an eye on your roasting pan to make sure they don’t burn.

Food for Thought: If there are cherry and grape tomatoes, why not blueberry tomatoes?  Well, there’s no such thing as a blueberry tomato, but there is a tiny variety of tomato called the “tipa tomato” that is about the size of a blueberry! Did you know that tomatoes get their size, color and flavor from their parents? To get new tomato varieties, two tomato plants are “cross pollinated,” which means that some of the traits from each parent plant show up in the baby plant! What’s your favorite kind of tomato?

Family Dinner Conversation Starter: What characteristics to do you get from each of your parents? Are they physical characteristics, like your eye color, or things you can’t see, like your sense of humor?

Ingredients:

• 2 pints cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 20 oz. package refrigerated cheese tortellini
• 1 6.25 oz. jar prepared pesto sauce
• Shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Adult: Preheat oven to 400F.

Together: Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Kid: Add cherry tomatoes, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Adult: Roast cherry tomatoes for 15-20 minutes.

Adult: Meanwhile, cook tortellini according to package directions.

Adult: Drain tortellini and add to a large serving bowl.

Together: Toss with cherry tomatoes and pesto sauce.

Kid: Top with Parmesan cheese, if desired.