Recipe: Sausage Alfredo Pasta

A quick and delicious meal that comes together in just about thirty minutes, featuring easy pantry staples like sausages, red peppers, mushrooms, and penne noodles.

I had pretty much next to no sleep last night. Both kids woke me up separately during the night. Then I woke up around 4 am after dreaming that the Backstreet Boys all died in a car accident. It was so vivid, I had to Google it this morning to make sure it didn’t actually happen. Rest assured, boy band fans, they are fine. And then just before the morning alarm went off, one of the cats was shrieking to be let out. Clearly the sleep gods were not in my favor.

Which pretty much means I couldn’t wait to come home at the end of today to just crash. This girl is exhausted. This also means I was looking for a super simple dinner that required exactly zero trips to the grocery store, and very little in terms of effort.

So here we are with this Sausage Alfredo Pasta.

I had a few vegetables languishing in my refrigerator, begging to be used. And looking ahead to a week of Halloween and other assorted activities, I knew if I didn’t use them in tonight’s dinner, they were heading straight for the rubbish bin. Sausages are an easy win with the kids, the vegetables in tonight’s dinner, not so much. I thought with the pasta and the sauce, they might not notice. Madeline ended up liking the bits of red peppers, so I’ll take that mini victory. To keep this dinner a little easier (and a little lighter), I used a pre-made light Alfredo sauce.

Just about half an hour later, we were sitting down to dinner. With about a cup and a half of vegetables, and a lighter Alfredo sauce, this meal was low on the guilt spectrum, and done quickly. Which are pretty much my favorite kind of meals for a weeknight.

Sausage Alfredo Pasta
Recipe courtesy of Cate O’Malley
Yield: 3 servings

olive oil
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 cup of mushrooms, sliced
1 red bell pepper, cut into bite size pieces
3/4 lb sausage links, cut into bite size pieces
1 cup light Alfredo sauce (I used Bertoli)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
3/4 box of mini penne noodles

Put the water on to boil for the pasta noodles, and cook noodles following the package directions. As the noodles cook, put a medium size pan on medium high heat and drizzle a little bit of olive oil in the pan, just enough to lightly coat the pan. Add the garlic, mushrooms, and bell pepper. Cook for a few minutes or until they start to get soft. Remove from pan and set aside. Add the sausage link pieces to the pan and cook until the outside is slightly crispy and the inside is no longer pink. Remove from pan and add to the bell pepper and mushrooms.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain, and return it to its pan. Add the Alfredo sauce and the Parmesan cheese and cook over low heat for a few minutes, until the sauce is warmed through. Add the sausage, bell pepper, and mushrooms and stir to combine.

Serve.