Dive into dairy with cheesy dinner creation

There’s no denying the appeal of dairy in home cooking. Dairy helps make foods silky, creamy and more satisfying. Cheeses in particular can make meals more rich and more flavorful, so much so that they can be truly addictive.

Layering cheesy goodness can set any meal apart. That’s just what happens with “Cheesy Chicken Tortellini Bake” from “The Pampered Chef® Stoneware Inspirations” (The Pampered Chef® Ltd.) by The Pampered Chef® Test Kitchens. Freshly cooked chicken and homemade tortellini can be used for this comforting casserole, but cubed, pre-cooked chicken and refrigerated tortellini also works.

Cheesy Chicken Tortellini Bake Serves 6

Pasta mixture

1⁄2 cup chopped onion 1 teaspoon olive oil 1 garlic clove, pressed 1 jar (16 ounces) white Alfredo pasta sauce

2 packages (9 ounces each) refrigerated cheese-filled regular or spinach tortellini

11⁄2 cups cubed cooked chicken 1 cup milk

1 cup water

1 cup frozen peas

1⁄4 teaspoon ground black pepper 2 tablespoons snipped fresh basil leaves or 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

Crumb topping

1 ounce grated fresh Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 400 F. For pasta mixture, chop onion. In a 4-quart casserole, heat oil over medium-high heat; add onion and garlic pressed with a garlic press. Cook and stir 2 to 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.

Meanwhile, for crumb topping, grate Parmesan cheese. Place butter in a small microwave-safe dish, microwave on high 30-45 seconds or until melted. Stir in bread crumbs and cheese; mix well.

Spoon pasta mixture into a baking dish; sprinkle with crumb topping. Bake 15-20 minutes or until edges are bubbly and topping is golden brown.

Tip: Alfredo sauce in a jar can be found in the pasta sauce section of the supermarket. Do not substitute refrigerated Alfredo sauce; it may separate and curdle during baking.

Anthony Burgess wrote, “Laugh and the world laughs with you. Snore and you sleep alone.” Though, as Mark Twain pointed out, it is a mystery why snoring wakes everyone except the snorer.

It pays to stay wide awake at the bridge table. Also, don’t play quickly if you think a critical moment has been reached. Even if it turns out that your pause helps declarer, it is better to take a timeout than to misdefend by playing impulsively.

In one match, a West played far too quickly on this deal from a European Team Championship.

North was right just to raise to three no-trump. It was unlikely that five diamonds would make and three no-trump would go down. Much more likely that the opposite would be true.

At the first table, the declarer won the first trick with his heart ace and immediately cashed his six diamond tricks. However, this allowed East to make an encouraging discard in clubs. That made it easy for West to win the first spade trick and switch to clubs, defeating the contract.

At the other table, Andrei Gromov did much better. He won the first trick and immediately led the spade five from his hand. After West played a sleepy low spade and dummy’s queen held, South claimed his contract.

When declarer didn’t lead a diamond at trick two, it marked him with that ace. Further, if West trusted his partner’s discouraging signal at trick one, South also had the heart king. That made eight red-suit winners. So, South was presumably trying to sneak his ninth trick. West should have jumped in with the spade ace and switched to clubs, resulting in down three.