Roasted Veggie and Sausage Pasta

I am not sure if I love roasted veggies or grilled veggies more but I know they both make my mouth water.  This recipe uses a variety of vegetables - feel free to customize it to your tastes or what you have on hand.  Since several of the steps are concurrent (boil and cook pasta while browning sausage and roasting veggies), the time involved isn't too much and the wonderful, deep flavors meld together wonderfully once everything is combined.  My family has never once complained about eating their veggies with this meal!

INGREDIENTS:

• olive oil
• 8 oz mushrooms, quartered
• 2 small bell peppers
• 1 small summer squash or zucchini
• 1 medium red onion
• 1 small sweet yellow onion
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 3/4 lb sweet Italian sausage
• 3/4 lb pasta (I used fusili)
• sea salt
• pepper
• optional toppings: fresh basil, oregano, shredded Parmesan (I used all three and it was amazing)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line two baking sheets with foil.  Begin boiling water for pasta.
2. Slice squash lengthwise to quarter and then cut into 1/2 inch pieces. Chop peppers and onions.  Spread on one of the foil-lined sheets, drizzle with about 2 Tbsp olive oil and gently stir to coat.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Place mushrooms on the second foil-lined baking sheet, drizzle with oil and toss to coat.
4. Bake vegetables for 10 minutes, gently stir, and then place back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes longer, or to desired tenderness.  (You may want to leave the mushrooms in longer than the other veggies.)
5. As the veggies are cooking, cook pasta according to package directions and brown and drain sausage.
6. Add the can of diced tomatoes, with juices, to the sausage.  Cook for 5 minutes.
7. Combine sausage, veggies, and pasta.  
8. Serve topped with fresh oregano, basil, and shredded Parmesan cheese.

Difficulty: relatively easy but with some chopping

Time: 30-40 minutes

Source:  This one is my own...and is much loved by my family.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

There was a point in time, not long ago, when I would have said, "Who in the world would make his or her own sauce when there is perfectly good stuff you can buy off the shelf for $2?! Seriously, spaghetti night is supposed to be the quickest and easiest meal of the week!"  I am not saying that I will never again buy sauce, but I definitely became a sauce convert about six months ago.  My friends who have long made their own sauces are wondering what took me so long.  I am, too.  This sauce is SO much better than jarred and it honestly doesn't take that much work or time.  This batch makes enough for at least three meals; I freeze two portions.  I add the meat from the start, so when I use it, I don't even have to brown meat.  Taking a bag of sauce out of the freezer the night before spaghetti night actually saves me time.  Plus, I love the feeling that I get when making it with my own fresh herbs and that I can control the amount of sugar and salt that goes in.  (The amount of sugar in jarred sauce is astounding!)  If you have never made sauce yourself, please give this a try one afternoon.  You won't regret it!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2.5-3 lb meat (I use a combination of ground beef and sausage)
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 2 (29 oz) cans of tomato sauce
• 1 (29 oz) can of diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped (use less if using dried)
• 1/4 cup fresh oregano, chopped (use less if using dried)
• 4 cloves garlic, diced
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Brown ground meat with onion in a large pot or dutch oven until no longer pink.
2. Add remaining ingredients; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for at least 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Difficulty: Surprisingly easy

Time: about 1.5 hours, 20 minutes or so of which are hands-on

Source:  After researching online for a while, I just decided to make my own recipe; I have made this many times now and my family devours it!