Baby it’s cold outside
It’s snowy and cold outside today, and all we want to do is snuggle up at home. We’ve been getting small projects done around the house during the long weekend. Travis installed magnetic locks on some of our cabinets. I did a bit of rearranging in LJ’s room after he learned how to climb his rolling cart! We are both working on going through all of our clothes and downsizing. When we have a lot of projects we want to get done, having quick meals like this veggie pasta really come in handy!
Like good Midwesterner’s (😂), we went grocery shopping the day before the big snow storm arrived. There are few things I love more than having a fully stocked fridge and pantry. In fact, I’d probably rank grocery shopping in my top three favorite household chores. What level of adulthood have I reached if I have favorite household chores? I’m not sure I even want to know.
This afternoon we were hungry, and I wanted something cozy, filling, and fairly quick. Pasta is my love language, so I was all for a hot bowl. I had some leftover roasted red peppers (my favorite are the ones from Trader Joe’s!) to use up from our rainbow veggie wraps, so I added those in as well. Pasta isn’t technically one of our meals in our weekly meal plan, but I like to squeeze it in as a grain bowl sometimes.
To make my life easier, I’ve been cutting ingredients fairly small before I cook them so it’s faster and easier to feed LJ when the food is ready. Feel free to cut things a little larger if you’re not feeding tiny humans.
What are your favorite things to add to veggie pasta? Are you team sauce or no sauce? I’m usually team sauce, but this was so good It didn’t really need any!
Hope you enjoy,
Caitlyn
Cozy Italian Veggie Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1-2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 sweet onion diced
- 1 pack vegetarian Italian sausage sliced thinly
- 1-2 big pieces roasted red peppers drained & diced
- 1.5 cups penne pasta
- 1/2 bag baby spinach I use 3-4 good handfuls
- Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- 10-15 yellow cherry tomatoes halved
- *optional: parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes for topping
Instructions
- Bring a salted pot of water to boil. Add in penne pasta. Cook for 10 minutes.
- While the pasta cooks, in a large skillet heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add in miced garlic and cook 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Add in diced onions and cook for another 4-5 minutes until translucent.
- Add thinly sliced vegetarian Italian sausage pieces to the garlic onion mixture. Allow the sausages to brown a bit on each side, stirring every few minutes.
- Add in diced roasted red peppers and continue to cook until the pasta is done. Turn the heat down to medium-low.
- Drain the pasta and add to the veggie sausage mixture.
- Add half a bag (3-4 handfuls) baby spinach, stirring until wilted.
- Top bowls of pasta with a drizzle of olive oil, sea salt, and freshly cracked black pepper.
- Garnish with halved cherry tomatoes and parmesan, if desired.
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