Fire Cracker Italian Sausage Pasta

bekdavis

Turkey or Chicken Sausage can be substituted for pork. I use whole wheat pasta when making mine.


Ingredients:
1 pound uncooked pasta (be sure to use a fun shape)
1 large zucchini – sliced
1/2 cup red onion – sliced
3 T fresh garlic – chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
3 Italian sausage links – sliced
1/2 cup frozen peas (optional)
1/4 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup green onions
Salt and Pepper

Preparation:
Pasta: Cook pasta according to package. Drain. Set aside.
Italian Sausage: Cook Italian Sausage until done. Set aside until it is cool enough to touch. Slice into bite size pieces.
Herbs & Vegetables:

Zucchini – wash, slice into bit size pieces
Red Onion – peal, slice
Fresh Garlic – peal, chop
Frozen Peas – soak in warm water until no longer frozen, drain, set aside
Fresh Basil – wash, chiffonade (see tip below)
Green Onions – wash, slice into small pieces
Instructions:

Heat a pan large enough for all of the above ingredients. I tend to use the stock pot I boiled my pasta in. Throw in 2 T. olive oil, zucchini, red onions, garlic, and Italian sausage. Saute’ until zucchini is tender.
Once tender, toss in all of your herbs and vegetables, and the remaining olive oil.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Enjoy!

Tips from Chef Bek:

White pasta can be substituted for wheat.
Dried basil can be substituted for fresh. (when using fresh herbs in a recipe, use 3 times as much as you would use of a dried herb)
Chicken broth can be substituted for the oil which goes into the pasta once tossed.
Cooking spray can be substituted for the oil you saute’ your vegetables with.
Turkey sausage is a great substitute for pork Italian sausage.
Basil Tip: Chiffonade – To slice an herb or leafy vegetable into thin strands. Best way to accomplish is by stacking herb directly on top of each other, then rolling the leaves and slicing.

anikkim0915

Ohh Wow!! That sounds so good!

ouryear002

Sounds yummy! What is the serving size/calories on this?

PlatinumPiggy

bumpy bump

LisaMutchler

Yes I think I'm gonna try this also. Sounds yummy and pretty healthy. Lisa.
Good Luck you all.
I thought I'd look up the recipe in the track my food but I don't see anything with the calories. Have you added this recipe to your recipe box to let everyone see it. You should it sounds yummy.

debruhf

Yummy!

SweetToothMelissa

bump for later!

skinnyminnie

Bump

Mima904

That sounds delish! Can't wait to try it !!!! what's the calorie count?

bekdavis

have yet to figure out the CC. I will let you know.

it is yummy!!!

tierra85

bump

mrogus

I am going to make this tomorrow!!

Jeanine_Colavecchi

Only because I'm on a spaghetti squash kick..LOL.....try substituting spaghetti squash for the whole wheat pasta! A LOT less calories and super healthy

LisaMutchler

Jeanine
I made this last night. I used 4 italian sausage links because thats what I had on hand but next time I will try turkey sausage. A lot less calories. But this is the calorie count I found. My suggestion. Keep the pasta seperate from the veggies and scoop only the amount of pasta you would like and then the veggies on top. Less pasta more veggies. I also substituted mushrooms for the peas.

These are total calories and then I divided it by nine because I got nine cups out of the total dish.

Whole Grain Pasta 1400
4 Italian Sausage 1150
Medium Red Onion 60
8 oz Mushrooms 53
Garlic 45
Zuddhini 31
I forgot the green onions and I used parsley instead of basil

Total came to 2739 / 9 = 304 per cup

Does anyone watch the Dr. Oz show. I happen to be flipping through one day and caught an episode where he showed things to eat in place of others that were healthier. He said if you eat a certain type of pasta you can eat double the regular. Does anyone know anything about this episode. I wrote it down but I can't find it. He also said to eat roasted chick peas instead of nuts and greek yogurt instead of sour cream in onion dip and mashed parsnips instead of mashed potato. All that was on this episode.

Thanks to anyone who can help.
Lisa

Jeanine_Colavecchi

Jeanine
I made this last night. I used 4 italian sausage links because thats what I had on hand but next time I will try turkey sausage. A lot less calories. But this is the calorie count I found. My suggestion. Keep the pasta seperate from the veggies and scoop only the amount of pasta you would like and then the veggies on top. Less pasta more veggies. I also substituted mushrooms for the peas.

These are total calories and then I divided it by nine because I got nine cups out of the total dish.

Whole Grain Pasta 1400
4 Italian Sausage 1150
Medium Red Onion 60
8 oz Mushrooms 53
Garlic 45
Zuddhini 31
I forgot the green onions and I used parsley instead of basil

Total came to 2739 / 9 = 304 per cup

Does anyone watch the Dr. Oz show. I happen to be flipping through one day and caught an episode where he showed things to eat in place of others that were healthier. He said if you eat a certain type of pasta you can eat double the regular. Does anyone know anything about this episode. I wrote it down but I can't find it. He also said to eat roasted chick peas instead of nuts and greek yogurt instead of sour cream in onion dip and mashed parsnips instead of mashed potato. All that was on this episode.

Thanks to anyone who can help.
Lisa

Well i was referring to using spaghetti spuash INSTEAD of the pasta. It's really good and filling if you have never tried For 1 cup of spaghetti squash...its only 42 calories!

mrogus

I made this tonight and added baby tomatoes to it and used a yellow onion instead of a red one.

It was so good!!!!!!

I did not use a lot of olive oil. I think I only used 1/4 cup total

LisaMutchler

Jeanine

I meant to send the calorie count to Bek Davis. Sorry Jeanine. I have used spaghetti squash and have not been to happy with it unless its loaded with butter and all that good stuff. Have been trying it plain and with spaghetti sauce. I find it very boring but in this dish it might just work. I will try it in the future.

Lisa

shannahrose

bump