Tortellini Salad

My sisters and I went to lunch with my cute Mom for her birthday earlier this week and they all ordered the smoked turkey tortellini salad. It looked absolutely AMAZING!!! So -- this recipe began as a copycat from Red Butte Garden in Salt Lake City but ended very differently and now I can only claim their lunch as my inspiration rather than my base.

This is one recipe that throws together impressively fast and still looks like you spent time cooking. Prove it you say? Challenge accepted.

Mr. Chef always calls when he leaves work. It is a phone call I look forward to every day. 5:00 came and went, 5:15 came and went, 5:30 came and went and still no call. I was busy so I wasn't worried but I hadn't started dinner because I knew it would be fast. I was poking around- prepping veggies etc. when suddenly I heard the garage door going up. He was home. Apparently my phone had gone straight to voicemail. Odd. I threw all my veggies in a bowl, boiled the tortellini, tossed with a tiny bit of mayo, sprinkled with some cheese and ten minutes later we were sitting around the table eating dinner and chatting about the day.

Voila! Fast, easy, healthy and delicious.

Behold...

{Ingredients}

• 1 package cheese Tortellini. (I use the 2 pack from Costco and freeze one. Total this pack could make 3-4 meals, they are big. I cook the whole pack and then take about 1/4 out for my 9 month old before I toss it and we still had leftovers)
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 Cup ham, turkey or meat of choice, diced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/2 C mushrooms, chopped
• handful of baby spinach
• 1 Roma Tomato, diced 
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, roughly chopped
• 1/2 C peas
• 1/4 C shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/8 C mayo or dressing of choice
• salt
• Black pepper

{Directions}
Cook tortellini according to package directions, drain well
Combine all ingredients and toss lightly.
Serve

*One of my favorite parts of this new recipe is that you can make this once a week and never repeat. Switch the meat, experiment with different veggies, dressings, etc. Make this your own.

Substitute ideas --
Dressing: Creamy basil, Poppy seed, balsamic vinaigrette
Meats: grilled chicken, smoked turkey, bacon, leave it off and have a vegetarian dinner
Vegetables/Fruit: Avocado, strawberries, apples, oranges, celery, broccoli, shittake mushroom, green beans...