Pasta with Lentils, Sausage and Tomatoes

A few weeks ago I had it with grocery shopping in the sense that I felt like I was buying food to just buy food. I would get home and not even know if I had bought stuff to make dinner for that week. So I decided like so many of you out there to do meal plans for the week.

I have to say so far so good because now when I go to the market I know what I need to get because I put it all on my shopping list. It also takes the question "what do I make for dinner tonight..." away which is nice. I am trying to make at least one new recipe a week which is cutting my list of recipes I want to try down a little bit.

Here is one recipe that is a keeper and one that is a great week night dinner.


Pasta with Lentils, Sausage and Tomatoes
eatingwell.com

1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 ounces hot Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
1 19-ounce can lentil soup
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil, or parsley
Salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste
12 ounces fusilli

1) Put a large pot of salted water on to boil.

2) Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add sausage and cook, breaking up clumps with a fork, until browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Add lentil soup and tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in basil (or parsley) and season with salt and pepper.

3) Cook pasta until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Toss with sauce and serve.

Review: I had this recipe on my list for a while now and decided to make it last week because it seemed easy and fast. That was the name of the game last week because I had a lot of prep work to do for the party. I did a couple of thinks different because it was what I had to work with...I used sweet Italian sausages because I couldn't find the hot ones and just added a pinch of red pepper flakes to the meat, I also used parsley instead of the basil because I already had that in the house, and I also used a different pasta again because that is what I had in the house. This is a keeper because the taste was good and it was fast to make. Mike thinks I should add more sausage to it next time but I think then it isn't as "healthy" as it was intended to be.