This stove-top dinner is simple and easy to make and you can pull it together for dinner in about 30 minutes. The recipe uses lean turkey or poultry Italian sausage, which has far less fat in it than regular Italian pork sausage. You simply slice the sausages into rounds. In the final dish, the little sausage pieces taste like meatballs, but you've skipped a lot of the work involved in making actual meatballs. The dish is loaded with vegetables, which adds nutrients to the dish as well as flavor. Whole-wheat pasta also packs whole-grains and fiber into the meal and helps keep the dish acceptable if you're on a diabetic diet. The stove-top meal is full of the traditional Italian flavors yet is lighter and brighter in flavor (and on your waist-line). You don't need to serve much with the meal. A salad and fruit would be plenty. Any leftovers make great lunches (or dinners) later in the week. Enjoy!
Skillet Sausage, Zucchini and Pasta Dinner -- Serves 4+
2-3 teaspoons of canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 pound of turkey/poultry Italian sausages (the uncooked version), chopped crosswise
into rounds
2-3 medium zucchinis, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2-2 teaspoons of dried Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon of salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
14-16 ounce can of diced tomatoes
3 cups of water
2 cups of whole-wheat pasta (I use penne or a similar-size pasta)
1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
2/3-1 cup of light sour cream
2-3 tablespoons of fresh basil, optional
Heat the oil over medium heat in a large non-stick skillet. Add the onion to the pan and saute it for about 5 minutes until it begins to soften. Add the turkey sausage rounds to the pan and saute them with the onion for about five minutes. Add the zucchini to the pan and saute it with the onion and sausages for five minutes. Add the Italian seasoning, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, garlic powder, diced tomatoes, and water to the pan. Bring the mixture to a boil. Stir in the pasta and remaining salt and bring the mixture back to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, loosely cover the pan with a lid and let the mixture cook for about 10 minutes or until the pasta has softened to your liking and absorbed all but about 1 cup of water in the pan. Stir in half the shredded Parmesan and the sour cream. Turn off the heat, sprinkle on the remaining Parmesan, and cover the pan for a few minutes to melt the cheese and let the pasta absorb some of the sauce. If you're using the fresh basil, sprinkle the basil over the pasta just before serving it.
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