sausage pasta skillet

This is another recipe adapted from Taste of Home's Healthy Cooking magazine (the April/May 2011 issue).  Originally we made the recipe as it was written (kind of) and used chicken.  But this week we had turkey sausage in our fridge, and I was craving mac & cheese with turkey sausage (Chris and I used to eat it all the time, but it had to be the shapes mac & cheese, I won't eat the plain elbow noodles), so this was a happy medium between the two.  I am happy to report that we think this recipe is way better with the turkey sausage.

Personally I feel like this should be a pretty family friendly recipe, but that assumes your family loves broccoli and asparagus.  Which I absolutely love.  Ryann of course wouldn't touch it, but it's fine, she is just going to eat veggie tots and salmon stix for the rest of her life.  No biggie.

The only negatives to this recipe that I see are for one, the process cheese.  Personally I'm a little grossed out by Velveeta, but I don't have any better ideas.  So if you do, let me know.  Two, boiling the veggies, which causes them to lose some of their nutritional value.  I know you could saute those in the skillet as opposed to the boiling, but it sure does make it quick and easy.  You win some you lose some, right?

Sausage Pasta Skillet

Ingredients

• 2 cups uncooked whole wheat spiral pasta
• 2 cups fresh broccoli florets
• 1 pound asparagus, cut into one inch pieces
• 16 ounces smoked turkey sausage, sliced
• 4 ounces mushrooms, sliced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup fat-free half-and-half
• 4 ounces reduced-fat process cheese (Velveeta), cubed
• 1 teaspoon garlic-herb seasoning blend
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1-2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, cook pasta according to package directions, adding the broccoli and asparagus during the last 3 minutes of cooking; drain.
2. Spray a large skillet with nonstick spray.  Saute mushrooms and sausage until cooked to your liking.  Remove from skillet and set aside.
3. Melt butter in the skillet.  Combine flour and broth until smooth; stir into pan.  Add half-and-half.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened.  Add the process cheese, seasoning blend, salt and Worcestershire sauce; stir until smooth.
4. Stir in pasta mixture, sausage and mushrooms.  Heat through. 

Enjoy!