sausage and pumpkin pasta

Yeah, I know.  It is July.  Not exactly pumpkin recipe time.  But when my grocery store ran out of pumpkin, I bought six cans somewhere else when I found it.  So I had some left.  I came across this recipe in the Healthy Cooking magazine, it sounded easy enough, and Chris agreed to it.  So we had pumpkin pasta in July.  Deal with it.

Honestly, I was a little worried about adding pumpkin.  I thought it would be like eating pumpkin bread with mushrooms and sausage, and that sounded a little strange.  But it doesn't have cinnamon or nutmeg or any of the other things that make pumpkin bread taste the way it does, so there really wasn't a strong pumpkin flavor in my opinion.  Just tasty goodness.  Maybe in the form of glorified hamburger helper, but I liked it.

Sausage and Pumpkin Pasta
(from Taste of Home's Healthy Cooking Magazine)

Ingredients
2 cups uncooked multigrain bow tie pasta
1/2 pound Italian turkey sausage links, casings removed
1/2 pound sliced fresh mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup white wine or additional reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes

Directions
1.  Cook pasta according to package directions.
2.  Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, cook the sausage, mushrooms, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink.  Drain.
3.  Stir in the broth, pumpkin, wine, sage, salt, garlic powder and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5-6 minutes or until slightly thickened.
4.  Drain pasta; add to the skillet and heat through.  Just before serving, sprinkle with cheese and parsley.

Enjoy!