Chicken Tortellini Pesto Bowls

Monday’s are hard enough as it is - so I’m always looking to meal prep or at least make something that will yield leftovers for a day or two. This is definitely one of those meals. My husband loves this combo and requests making a double batch of this as he loves tortellini - the rest is pretty much filler for him. That ‘ filler’ includes delicious roasted green beans with sweet baby tomatoes and deliciously marinated chicken. The best part is it all is goes down on a sheet pan. Aren’t sheet pan meals the best?!? They always roast up beautifully, quickly and with very little prep or clean up, which makes them ideal for meal prep.

I use to be so good with meal prep in Trinidad. Even with the blog I always had something going every other day that would keep us nourished with leftovers. Since I have been back and with my folks it’s been horrible but September feels like a brand new start and hoping to keep this meal prep thing going from now on. It’s not that we don’t eat well - maybe we eat too well. Between my blog cooking and my moms need to cook a big meal every single day - there is no room to cook extra meal prep food. All that food cannot go to waste so we always seem to have a revolving door of leftovers happening and most times it’s the most random things. In a way it’s been fun recreating things with leftovers. Almost anything can be made into a frittata or can easily make it on a pizza! Like I said though we have made a point to be better at it starting this month and I’m going to make a conscious effort to get some more sheet pan meals on the blog - ones that we love, cause I know you guys love sheet pan meals.

I was so happy to collaborate with Metro on this meal prep meal. They requested I come up with some sort of meal prep meal that uses the most of their in-store Irresistibles brand. I was up for the challenge as I know that store inside and out and use a lot of Irresistibles brand products. I had so many ideas but this one stood out the most cause of my husband’s deep love for tortellini. I had so much fun sourcing their products and coming up with a meal plan with them that was delicious yet simple and low maintenance. The whole thing comes together in under 30 minutes. Can’t beat that for the midweek. I hope you give it a try and feel free to use any quick cooking veggie you love in place of the green beans. Rapini, broccolini, and even cauliflower and asparagus also make very tasty substitutes. Enjoy and happy meal prepping!

I have partnered up with Metro Ontario to bring you this fabulous recipe, but all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting Olive & Mango.

Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1½lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced into 1¼-inch thick strips (can also substitute for chicken thighs)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tsp Italian season
• ½ tsp Irresistibles Garlic powder
• ½ tsp Irresistibles Onion powder
• ¼ cup of chopped Irresistibles Sundried Tomatoes
• 4 tbsp Irresistibles Basil Pesto divided (plus more according to taste)
• 5 tbsp olive oil, divided -plus more for greasing baking sheet
• ½ tsp lemon juice and 4 slices of lemon plus more for garnish
• 1 lb fresh green beans, tops trimmed
• 1 pint of grape tomatoes, sliced into halves
• One 350 g package of Irresistibles Tortellini
• ¼ cup fresh chopped Irresistibles Basil for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease or line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a medium sized bowl toss the chicken with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, 1 tbsp of olive oil, the lemon juice, sundried tomatoes and 2 tbsp of the basil pesto, and set aside to marinade while you slice your tomatoes and prepare the green beans.

3. Once the veggies are prepped transfer the marinated chicken to one side of the baking sheet and place the lemon slices over the chicken.

4. On opposite side of baking dish, toss green beans with 1 tbsp olive oil. Spread beans to edges of baking dish, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Roast in preheated oven 23-25 minutes, tossing green beans once halfway through cooking, until chicken is golden brown and green beans are crisp-tender (if you want the tomatoes roasted too, toss them with 1 tbsp of olive oil and add them during the last 10 minutes of cooking - I like to do half in the oven and half out).

6. While the chicken and veggies are roasting, cook the tortellini according to package, drain and place in a large bowl and toss with the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of pesto. Season will salt and pepper as needed.

7. Remove the chicken from the oven once done, and serve with the tortellini, green beans and tomatoes. Serve warm, and garnish chicken with fresh basil and lemon slices if desired.