What child doesn’t like pasta sauce? Am I the only one that has not one but two kids who would prefer it plain? Well today I’m going to tell you why I make my pasta plain and how easy it is to “dress” it up a bit rather than just add butter like my kids have liked all of their lives. I’m not going to lie, I prefer my pasta this way too. Though I make an incredibly quick and easy spaghetti sauce and I do enjoy that in a lot of dishes, these two recipes I’m going to share with you today are my go to at least once a week. So I’d like to say that my kids are the reason as to why I make my pasta plain, but it’s not. I am. I confess. It’s so easy to make this dishes so many ways but my favorite so far as been this Parmesan Pasta and Chicken Sausage. You’ll have to try my Healthier Parmesan Noodles and Veggie Pasta Primavera.
- 2 garlic cloves
- juice from ½ lemon
- salt and pepper
- 3 tbsp of fresh basil, chopped
- 4 tbsp of olive oil
- ½ cup of parmesan cheese, more for topping
- 4 oz. pasta of your choice
- 4 homemade chicken sausage
- 1 cup of frozen peas.
- Cook pasta according to package directions. The last few minutes add the frozen peas. Save ¼ cup of pasta water. Drain and set aside.
- Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add the chicken sausage by splitting it open and removing the inside of the sausage. Break it up and continue to cook until it's no longer pink, approx. 10-12 min.
- Add the cooked pasta and peas, remaining olive oil, parmesan cheese, lemon juice and 2 tbsp of fresh basil. Season with salt and pepper and stir to combine. Add the pasta water here if you think it needs more moisture.
- Remove from heat and sprinkle with remaining basil and a little bit more of parmesan cheese.
You can really personalize this dish a lot of ways! Change it up by using fehttuchini instead of bow ties, Add asparagus or broccoli goes nice. Really all you need to do add the other ingredients and you have a whole dinner prepared in minutes. Have I mentioned how obsessed I am with skillet meals? Yes I make this kind of combination at least once a week because I know my kids will pick through whatever kind of meat I decide to add and will at least eat the pasta and veggies.
