Recipe: Sausage & Veggie Pasta

My parents have a big garden, and they let me have some of the spoils.  So, when I went out to my parents' house this past weekend, I came back home with a nice pile of veggies.  I got fresh tomatoes, kale, and rainbow chard.... and oh, how delicious in pasta!

Daddy and I brought some leftovers for lunch.

Everyone loved this, and I hope that you give it a try. 

I was recently sent some Dreamfields pasta to try out (and though I received the pasta free, I was in no other way compensated), and so I used it in this dish.  A note - though the pasta claims to have only 5g of "digestible" carbs, and says it is perfect for diabetics, I think they might mean Type 2 diabetics.  We counted the full amount of carbs in the pasta to dose The Boy's insulin, and his blood sugar was perfect afterwards.  I shudder to think what counting only 5g would have done to his blood sugars.  I'm not saying it is false advertising, because it says no where on their box or website or other literature that I could find that it was recommendations for type 1 or type 2 diabetes... and the pasta *was* very delicious, so I would buy it again.  I just wanted to let other carb-counting Type 1 diabetic parents out there know what I found for The Boy.

This recipe is based on one I found on Allrecipes. 

Sausage & Veggie Pasta

3 large tomatoes, chopped
1 lb sweet Italian turkey sausage, casing removed
4 c washed and coarsely chopped rainbow chard and kale (a mixture, or either, whatever you have)
2 c chopped baby portabello mushrooms
1 onion, diced
2-4 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp garlic powder
1 box whole wheat penne pasta
1/2 c mozarella cheese (I used 5 cheese sticks, chopped)
1/4 c parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Line two large sheet pans in foil (if you don't have large sheet pans, use roasting pans).  On one, place the tomatoes and the sausage.  Toss the tomatoes with about 1 Tbsp olive oil and the balsamic vinegar, and sprinkle with half the salt.

On the other pan, place the greens, mushrooms, and onion.  Toss with the remaining olive oil and sprinkle with the remaining salt.

Roast the tomatoes and sausage for about 40 minutes, and the other veggies for about 15-20 minutes.  Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package directions and drain, reserving 1/2 c of the cooking water.

When the sausage is done roasting, chop coarsely.  Mix all the roasted vegetables and the sausage in with the pasta, the reserved pasta water, and the cheese.  Bake in a large pot, uncovered, for 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and the top is slightly browned.