Sausage Pepper Pasta

Start boiling a large pot of water. Meanwhile, defrost the sausages a bit if necessary. Take off the outer skins of sausages (that’s right, squeeze out the sausage meat). Get a pan going on medium high and add sausage meat, breaking up with wooden spoon. Cook until well browned. If you have caraway seeds in the meat, you’ll have fun little pop explosions every so often!

Remove the sausage meat to a plate and set aside. Add 1/2 tbsp olive oil to hot skillet and add bell pepper and corn. Saute for about 3 minutes. Turn up heat to high and deglaze the pan with the chicken stock and about 1/4 cup water, scraping well. You can also use white wine here to deglaze. Just make sure to cook it out so the alcohol evaporates. Cook that for about 5 minutes or so, you want it to thicken.

When water boils, salt it and add macaroni. Cook till al dente then drain (don’t rinse or sauce won’t stick to pasta). Add pasta to skillet and toss well. Add sausage, parsley, parm cheese, butter and 1/2 tbsp olive oil. Cook for about 1-2 minutes more. Off heat add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Italian Sausage Soup

19.8 Colosimo's Italian sausage, cut into small cubes
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
3 leaves fresh basil
1 can 15 oz. butter beans
1 can 15 oz. black beans
(beans may be substituted with beans of your choice)
1 can 15 oz. diced tomatoes
2 cups beef broth
grated Romano or Parmesan cheese

Cook sausage until brown add garlic and basil. Sauté 4 minutes. Add remaining ingredients: beans, tomato, broth. Cover and simmer 10-15 minutes, then remove from heat. Serve in soup bowl; sprinkle with cheese.

Easy Italian Sausage Style Spaghetti

19.8 oz Colosimo's Italian sausage
1 onion
1 green pepper
1 lg. jar spaghetti sauce
1 box spaghetti noodles

Finely chop onions and peppers, and cut Italian sausage into cubes. Place onions, peppers, and sausage into skillet and cook on medium until onions and peppers are tender. Drain. Pour in spaghetti sauce and simmer until hot. Boil noodles according to directions on box. Pour sauce onto prepared noodles and enjoy.

Sausage Pesto Casserole

2 cups uncooked rainbow rotini pasta (6 oz)
1 lb Italian sausage links, each cut into 6 pieces
1 7-oz container refrigerated pesto (I mixed up a dry packaged pesto mix)
¼ cup water
¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese (4 oz)

1. Cook and drain pasta as directed on package in 3-qt saucepan; set aside 2. Spray same saucepan with nonstick cooking spray; heat over medium heat. Cook sausage in saucepan about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown; drain. 3. Stir pesto sauce, water and pasta into sausage. Cover and cook over medium heat 5 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sausage is no longer pink in center. 4. Sprinkle with cheese.

Slow Cooker Lentils and Sausage (makes 10-12 servings)

12 oz lentils
One 16 oz can Italian-flavored diced tomatoes
2 beef or vegetable bullion cubes
5 cups water
1 carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
2 or 3 cloves garlic
1 tsp thyme
Half the 19.8 oz kielbasa, cut into 1-inch pieces

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on low until veggies are done and lentils are soft, about 8 hours. Serve alone or with rice for a filling meal.