Cheesy Baked Tortellini

Cheesy Baked Tortellini from College Vegetarian Cooking
Serves 4

*My additions/modification are in Italics
Ingredients
1 pound frozen cheese tortellini
8 ounces fresh mushrooms
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
Salt and pepper
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 bag baby spinach leaves *my own little addition

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the tortellini. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes, or until cooked through. Drain in a colander and place in a 9-inch baking pan.

Meanwhile, cut the ends off the mushroom stems, discard, and cut the mushrooms into thin slices. Heat the canola oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat, add the mushrooms and spinach, and cook, stirring frequently, for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the mushrooms are golden brown.

Add the butter to the skillet and stir until melted, the stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly pour in the milk, stirring continuously. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, or until the sauce just begins to bubble. Remove from the heat, season with salt and pepper, and stir in the Parmesan cheese. Pour the sauce over the tortellini and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the sauce begins to brown. Serve immediately.

I nearly BOTCHED this dish. First, being cheap, I used my vanilla soy milk instead of regular soy milk. I normally get away with using my vanilla-flavored milk in recipes for biscuits, cornbread and cookies, however I did NOT get away with it this time. The tortellini definitely had a slight vanilla taste to it, which wasn't the best. Second, the original recipe instructed to add the butter/flour to the PAN, which I read to mean the pan with the tortellini. I definitely added the butter and flour to the baking pan, and realized I was wrong before I started mixing too much. Hence why I changed the wording. I do think this dish would be AWESOME with regular milk/soy milk in the future. I served it with a side salad.