One of the hardest things to accomplish while being a vegetarian with my son (we do eat fish on occasion, so I guess technically we are pescetarian) has been to prepare meals that will please my husband the carnivore. On occasion I do buy him a local steak or ground beef, but for the most part he eats what I prepare. Getting really great flavor while hoping he won’t miss the meat is always a challenge, but for the most part, he really enjoys the vegetarian dishes that I prepare. Sometimes, though, I do want to have a little more “substance” in the meal for him so I have tried several of the meat substitutes. You have to be careful with those, though, because many have ingredients that I would rather not eat or feed my kids. One I came across recently at my local health food store was from a company called Field Roast. What I like is that there isn’t an ingredient list a mile long, plus my favorite flavor has actual fruit and vegetable included in the list. My favorite is the Smoked Apple Sage. With dried apples, yukon gold potatoes and rubbed sage among the ingredients, this sausage is delicious. The other flavors are Italian Sausage and Mexican Chipotle. We haven’t tried the Mexican Chipotle yet, but the Italian Sausage is yummy!
So, for this Meatless Monday I want to share a super easy meal that includes the Field Roast sausage!
Here’s what you need:
- 1 medium red pepper – sliced
- 1 medium zucchini squash – washed and sliced (not too thin)
- 1 vidalia onion – quartered
- about 1/2 pound fresh asparagus spears – ends removed.
- 1 box penne pasta – I like the “healthy” ones
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- 1 package Field Roast Sausage of your choice
- dried herbs like thyme and/or oregano for added flavor
Here’s what you do:
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Prepare the vegetables and in a large bowl toss with olive oil (enough to coat), salt, and pepper.
- Spread vegetables on a baking sheet and roast in over for a 15-20 minutes, turning halfway through cooking time.
- Meanwhile, boil a large pot of salted water on the stove and cook pasta according to directions on package.
- In a large skillet warm some olive oil over medium heat.
- To the skillet add the sausage. Heat until cooked through, turning occasionally. (about 10 minutes)
- Add the roasted vegetables to the skillet. Pour about 1/2 cup of the pasta water into skillet then drain the pasta and add to the sausage and vegetable mixture.
- Season with salt, pepper, dried thyme and oregano.
- Serve it up!
You can change this to your family’s likes and dislikes when it comes to the roasted roasted vegetables. I like to use what’s in season like the asparagus. It’s such a yummy and healthy vegetable and right now is the time to buy and prepare it! Same thing with the pasta….you could use macaroni, farfalle, rotini – have fun with it! What makes this an even more family-friendly recipe is that from start to finish, it only takes 30-40 minutes of time and that is so important whether you have a hungry teen or pre-teen like I do or you have little toddlers grabbing at your legs.
I hope you will try and enjoy this recipe and come back again soon!
Speak Your Mind