A Delicious & Quick Dinner Idea

When my husband and I first moved in together before we got married, we were both pretty lacking in our cooking skills. We often ordered-in food and we ate the same things all the time, which included a lot of turkey tacos because they were easy to make.

As we got older, we both got better at cooking and currently my husband does 90% of the cooking in our house. (Score!)  But now that we have a baby, our dinner routine has become a little more challenging because we both want to maximize the time we spend with Harper after work instead of being stuck in the kitchen.  We like to cook things that are quick or than can be thrown into a pan and oven-baked so we can play with the baby and have our dinner practically make itself, save some prep time.

We've been buying Bertolli authentic Italian frozen meals for about five years now. We kind of discovered them randomly in the freezer section of our grocery store. It was one of those "these look good" moments and we picked up a few different meals.

Recently, Bertolli came out with new, restaurant-inspired, multi-serve Rustico Bakes, which promise to deliver oven-baked taste from the microwave in minutes. Already a fan of the stove-top frozen meals, I was excited to try something that would take even less effort (and no clean-up either!).

Nowadays, we cook a Bertolli dinner anytime we don't feel like really cooking or don't have the time to but we still want a tasty dinner that's a real meal (ie: not mac n' cheese or cereal). The new Bertolli multi-serve Rustico Bakes are available in 4 recipes-  Stuffed Shells Bolognese, Ricotta & Mozzarella Ravioli, Ziti Alforno and Manicotti Alla Vodka. You guys, they are SO good. I was amazed at how delicious they were and, confession time---when we made the Ziti Alforno, I took it out of the microwave and divided equal servings into bowls...and then, when my husband wasn't looking, added a little more to my bowl. (Sorry, honey.)

Sometimes we don't have the time or energy to cook or we just want to spend our evening taking a long walk with the baby and reading extra books. Having something quick and easy that we can eat and enjoy as a family is awesome (and lately, Harper likes to watch us eat too!).

All you have to do to make the Rustico Bakes is to pop it into the microwave for about 10 minutes. When it's all done I promise you will love the taste- just like what you'd order dining out, but you can wear sweatpants and don't have to leave your house.

 

Harper hanging out while dinner cooks...

 Here's what it looks like after we've served it up:

so much delicious melted cheesy goodness...mmm...

Bertolli also has a new line of Italian-inspired desserts and as someone who doesn't feel dinner is complete without a sweet treat at the end of a meal, I'm loving the Lemoncello dessert.  

Have you tried Bertolli dinners? What do you cook when you want a great meal that's quick? Leave me a comment below for a chance to win a $100 Visa Gift Card!

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