Italian Sausage in Tomato Spinach Sauce with Pasta

Love that Italian sausage and this time I wanted it cooked inside instead of on the grill.  Good thing that it was made last night because today they are predicting the heat index to be around 105!  So it will definitely be back to the grill tonight.

I didn’t grow up eating a lot of pasta; just the usual macaroni and cheese, spaghetti and meatballs and occasionally lasagna.  There is such a wide variety of pasta now, it’s amazing and I like them all. 

We definitely never had Italian sausage back then when living on the farm in Ohio and having our own pork sausage made.  That is a whole other story from years ago.  My grandfather had a great recipe for making pork sausage and it was a wonderful thing; nothing like the store bought.  Bill would wholeheartedly agree!

This Italian sausage with pasta is cooked in a tomato sauce with a spinach addition.  We destroyed this quickly and liked every single bite of it!

Italian Sausage with Tomato and Spinach Pasta

Ingredients:

½ pound rigatoni

1 pound hot Italian sausage links

2 tablespoon olive oil

3 tablespoons chopped garlic

1 large can tomato sauce

½ teaspoon each, dried oregano and basil

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper, to taste

½ pound baby spinach, chopped

¼ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Method:

Cook rigatoni per package directions, drain well and set aside.

Cut sausage into bite-sized pieces.

Heat olive oil in skillet, add sausage and sauté.

Remove sausage when cooked.

Add garlic, sauté.

Place tomato sauce in skillet.

Add oregano, basil, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.

Bring to a simmer.

Add spinach; cooking until wilted.

Add sausage and rigatoni to mixture.

Heat thoroughly.

Serve with parmesan cheese.

ENJOY!!!

Green Chile Chicken Pasta

Chicken and Rigatoni!
Yum!

Wanted:  camera skills!

This recipe was posted by Linda at My Kind of Cooking. 

I thought the list of ingredients sounded delicious and knew I had to try it.  I broke the chicken into bite-size pieces and added about three-fourths of a pound of mushrooms to it along with a few twists of freshly ground pepper.  The green chiles are a perfect complement to the dish and it baked quickly to a golden brown. 

I divided it into 2 casserole baking dishes and froze one for later usage.  You must try this dish to see just how mouth-watering delicious it is!  It will make a perfect entrée for guests!  Thanks for the recipe, Linda!

Here is Linda’s recipe:

1 (16 ounce) package rigatoni noodles, cooked, drained

2 (16 ounce) jars Alfredo sauce

1 pound chicken breasts, cooked, shredded

2 (4 ounce) cans diced green chiles

2 (8 ounce) packages shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In 4 quart baking dish, arrange rigatoni noodles. Pour 1 jar Alfredo sauce over top.  Arrange chicken over sauce.  Pour remaining Alfredo sauce over chicken.  Sprinkle chiles over Alfredo sauce.  Sprinkle cheese over top.  Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until cheese is melted and lightly golden brown.  Makes 8 servings.

The green chiles give this recipe a unique flavor.  You get all the chile flavor without any of the chile heat.   If you are serving this to company and are in doubt about whether they like green chiles or not, just sprinkle them on half of the dish.

Do give it a try and enjoy!