Cheesy Chicken Tortellini Bake

Wow, that picture is bad. Stick with me. The recipe is good. Really, really good.

Pasta Mixture
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 jar (16 oz) white alfredo pasta sauce
2 pkgs (9 oz each) refrigerated cheese-filled regular or spinach tortellini
1 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp snipped fresh basil leaves or 1 tsp dried basil leaves
Crumb Topping
1/4 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese
2 tbsp butter or margarine, melted
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs

1. Preheat oven to 400. For pasta mixture, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and pressed garlic. Cook and stir 2-3 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in pasta sauce, tortellini, chicken, milk, water, peas, and black pepper. Heat until mixture just comes to a boil; remove from heat. Stir basil into pasta mixture.
2. Meanwhile, for crumb topping, melt butter in microwave on high for 30-45 seconds or until completely melted. Stir in bread crumbs and cheese; mix well.
3. Spoon pasta mixture into 9 X 9 baking pan. Sprinkle with crumb topping. Bake 15-20 minutes or until edges are bubbly and topping is golden brown.

Recipe from The Pampered Chef's Stoneware Inspirations.

CHANGES I MADE:

• I used one 18-oz package of the refrigerated tortellini. It was cheaper (but still too expensive, at like $6.50, in my opinion) than two 9-oz packages, and frankly, even with my limited math skills, I am fairly certain I got roughly the same amount of pasta.
• I put the basil in the pasta mixture with the bulk of the other ingredients. Once again, this particular change I made was not due to some sort of culinary genius on my part. It was entirely because I cannot read directions all the way through before trying to follow them.
• I used prepackaged shredded parmesan cheese. And I ate quite a bit of the leftovers in the package after adding what was necessary for the recipe. Parmesan...mmmm...

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Keep an eye on anything in the oven that has a crumb topping. It goes from not-quite-done to a-bit-overdone very, very quickly. Too quickly to check facebook. Even very briefly.
• Georgia will believe the white tortellinis are actually chicken if you cut them up so that they don't look quite so tortellini-y. That may not work forever.

OPINIONS:

Bill: Loved it.

Me: Loved it. Will definitely do it again; often, if I can find the tortellini cheaper.

Emma: Loved it. "I especially like the crusty part."

Georgia: The girl likes chicken, so she ate some of it. And as reference above in THINGS I LEARNED, she unwittingly ate some of the pasta. She avoided the green tortellinis and the peas. But overall, this is actually a good recipe for her.