Italian Sausage Pasta

I went grocery shopping this week without a list.  It's the worst thing I can do.  Not only do I have no idea what I am there to buy, but I have no idea what I have at home so I end up buying things I already have - just in case I don't.   Anyhow, I ended up seeing Italian sausage not in the casing and thought of doing a pasta.

At first I was going to do tomatoes and spinach, and maybe stuff it into shells or something.  But for some reason once I thought of tomatoes, I could not stop thinking about my Italian Sausage Soup.  So I grabbed some zucchini and a green pepper.  I thought about how I wanted the sauce to come together and thought about doing mascarpone or sour cream or something.  But I saw that Philadelphia cooking cream and thought I'd try that.  I was a little skeptical, but it worked out great and was mild enough to be in the background.   I did my shopping on Monday morning but made it on Tuesday.   For 24 hours, it was all I could think about.

It came together very quickly. And it was as delicious as I had imagined in my head for a day.  The fact that both of my kids gobbled it up, and there were no left overs speaks volumes.  I do love that its full of things I keep on hand.   With the exception of the cooking cream, but I do think it would be just as great with no cream.

Italian Sausage Pasta

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 small green pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground sausage (or regular sausage, casing removed; OR you could use sliced sausage)
2 medium zucchini, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons Philadelphia cooking cream
salt and pepper to taste
chopped parsley and grated parmesan cheese to garnish

1/2 box cooked pasta (I used rigatoni)

In a large sautee pan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat.  Add the onions, garlic and pepper and cook until soft.   Add the sausage, breaking up any large pieces and cook until browned and cooked through.

(At this point, I transferred the sausage, peppers and onions to a plate and cooked the zucchini, but you could probably skip this step and toss the zucchini in with everything else.  I wanted the zucchini to get nice and browned, yet remain firm and crisp and not become mushy.)

Add the tomatoes and cooking cream, stirring to combine.   Season with salt and pepper.  Serve over cooked pasta with grated cheese and chopped parsley.