Spaghetti with Italian Sausage
Sorry, I didn’t take a picture of dinner last night. Â I really didn’t think it would go over as well as it did. Â Both boys said several times that it was great. Â They love spaghetti and meatballs and I was looking for a quicker alternative to mixing, rolling, and baking the meatballs. Â I thought I’d give sausage a try.
I started with a pound of sweet italian sausage from Trader Joe’s. Â The links were kind of big, so I cut them in half. Â I tossed them in a sauce pan and browned them in a little olive oil over medium heat. Â After 5 minutes or so, I added a jar of spaghetti sauce (Trader Joe’s Organic Marinara sauce) and a sprinkling of dried oregano and basil and brought that to a simmer. Â I let that bubble until the sausage was cooked through, maybe 12 minutes. Â That gave me time to boil the pasta and get a vegetable medley together. Â Easy, inexpensive, does it get any better?
I really like the suggestions for simple meals that you can prepare that kids will enjoy. I often don’t have much time to cook dinner and find that I make the same boring things day after day. Easy is the key for me and I am looking forward to trying the spaghetti with italian sausage recipe.
@Gina Thanks! I hear that from a lot of parents of young children that haven’t yet gotten to the point where they eat a wide variety of things. Lisa and I were getting tired of having the same things, too. I appreciate your comment.
Spaghetti with Italian Sausage is very underrated. I like adding some sauteed onions and peppers, sort of a sandwich but with pasta instead of bread. Man, I am hungry now, thanks a lot.
@Curtis, thanks for the reply. I love italian sausages with peppers. Next time we have this pasta, I’ll saute some peppers on the side and add them to Mom and Dad’s portion. Can’t quite get the kids to do green peppers, yet.
Try baking spaghetti squash. I cut the squash in half, spray with lite olive oil and sprinkle with S&P. Place cut side down on baking paper. Place in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes. Remove and let cool; shred with a fork. Looks just like pasta!
Mix it in with some of the spaghetti for a healthy, calorie free addition. Quite possible the kids will never know!
Excellent suggestion. I haven’t had spaghetti squash for a while. We grew it in the garden when we lived in Michigan and I might have gotten a little burned-out by eating it as fast as it grew. 🙂 Not sure if it will fool the kids. They seem to be able to find the tiniest scrap of onion in dishes and dig it out. However, this is a great case of 1 basic sauce plus pasta for the kids and spaghetti squash for the adults. Thanks!