Quick & Easy Sausage Pasta

Here's another Quick & Easy dinner comin' atcha from my crazy kitchen, to yours! I told you about my favorite Fajita Burritos last week, so here's a little Italian slice for you. In 20 minutes or so, you'll have this tasty meal on the table.

Sausage Pasta
1 lb ground Italian sausage (ground beef or turkey would work too)
2 cans stewed tomatoes - 14.5oz each.
Pasta (I used penne, but spaghetti or anything would work just fine with this)
For bonus points (and added flavor) and an extra 5 minutes, sauté diced onion and/or bell pepper with the sausage.


Directions:
Brown the sausage in a skillet.
While the sausage is browning, start a separate pot to boil water for the pasta. Make sure you salt the water.
Once the sausage is about 85% done, dump in the cans of stewed tomatoes. I used one can diced and one can of halved tomatoes. They were S&W Italian seasoned cans, so that helps limit the seasons you need to add, since its already done for you. Of course, I can't leave well enough alone, so I added some dried basil, salt, pepper, and a pinch or two of crushed red peppers. I broke up the halved tomatoes with my wooden spoon as I let the tomatoes simmer with the sausage. I let the sauce simmer for a good 10 minutes. Once the pasta was done, I drained it, and tossed it right into the sauce and let it simmer a little more. The starch from the pasta helps thicken up the sauce too.
If you're feeling fancy, sprinkle on some shredded Parmesan cheese. Done!

I've been trying to nix buying Ragu or Prego sauces (although I do pick up a Ragu Mama's blends when it's on super special sale.) because it's just not as good as if you make it yourself. I like that this sauce is heartier and chunky. It makes me feel like we're getting more veggies in our bodies, which, of course, has to be healthier. I used about 3/4 of a box of penne and we had plenty leftover for 3 lunches. Next time, I'll probably toss in some spinach and maybe break out the immersion blender for the sauce for some added hidden nutrients.

I literally threw this together at about 6:35pm after I picked up Will from my grandma's house after work, we got home and did our just-got-home-ritual:
- shoes off
- potty break (oh the joys of potty training!)
- backpack put away
- shoes put away
Just as I got to take my shoes off, Hubby walked in the door. Usually I'm a sucker for a hint from him to go out to eat, but I was a stickler this night (I must have just paid bills...) so I said "give me 20 minutes. We'll eat at 7pm.". Bada-Bing, Bada-Boom! Will even gobbled this up. Probably didn't hurt that I let him pick out which noodles, so he "helped" make it.
Enjoy!