Three Cheese Sausage Pasta Bake
This is one of my favorite weekend treats to throw together. Pasta, sausage, cheese, cheese, and mo’ cheese. It ain’t much of a recipe, but sometimes the simplest of concoctions put the biggest smile on my face. You know what I mean?
Here’s what you’ll need:
Ingredients List for Three Cheese Sausage Pasta Bake (serves 5)
- 8 ounces pasta of choice, cooked al dente
- 3 cups pasta sauce of choice (such as Prego Heart Smart)
- 4 links cooked chicken or turkey sausage (such as Harris Teeter Hot Chicken Sausage)
- 4 slices mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup fat-free ricotta
- 1/4 cup shredded parmesan
- Italian herbs of choice
I like to start off with some sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish. Prego is (and always has been) my go-to standard store pasta sauce. It tastes delicious, it’s super cheap, and you can buy it in a ginormous jar. What more could you want?
1/3 of the sauce goes into the casserole:
Then I toss on half of my pasta:
Plus two tablespoons of shredded parmesan and 1/4 cup fat-free ricotta:
Then I add the sliced sausages and sprinkle with my favorite Italian herb combo: oregano, basil, S&P, and a touch of red pepper flakes.
Add another cup of sauce, followed by the remaining pasta, then the last cup of sauce, 1/4 cup of ricotta, 2 tbsp parmesan, and 4 slices of mozzarella:
Cover with foil (careful that it doesn’t touch the cheese!!!). Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes, removing the foil for the last 5 minutes.
Dinner is served!
Stats on 1 serving: 422 calories, 52g carbs, 11g fat, 30g protein, 5g fiber
I say frittata, you say… ?
If I ever volunteer to come to your house and make you breakfast, you should consider yourself very lucky. You should also consider yourself forewarned:
For no dish, no matter how simple, will the kitchen be left unscathed. What can I say? I like to become one with my food 
And yes, that IS a bottle of wine next to the eggs.
I’ve always wanted to make a frittata, and this Sunday morning I was in the mood to get my cook on so I decided to give it a shot. Once I started googling frittata recipes, I realized I was lacking a major piece of equipment: a skillet that could go from stove top to oven without causing a fire. Dangit. That’s going on the T.J. Maxx list.
Since I had my heart set on eggy bliss, I decided to just use a standard glass pie pan. Does that mean it’s not a frittata anymore? Hmmmm what would its proper classification be? I say frittata, you say….. frrrrreggcasserole?
Something to ponder as the man pours your mimosa.
This frittata consisted of:
- 6 egg whites
- 3 eggs
- 2 Hot Chicken sausages (casings removed, cooked and crumbled)
- 1 large handful chiffonade spinach
- S&P, to taste
- Frank’s Red Hot, to taste (plus more for garnish )
- 1/4 cup diced tomato
- 1/4 cup diced red onion
- 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
- 2 tsp minced garlic
While I cooked up the sausage, and sautéed the onion, mushroom, and garlic, I got to egg crackalacking. Once the sausage was cooked and the veggies were soft, I stirred all the goodies into the eggs then poured into a pie pan that I’d coated with cooking spray.
Into the oven at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, and you’ll end up with this beauty:
The frittata set up PERFECTLY. Perfect temperature, perfect cook time:
I started off with just a slice:
But ended up eating precisely half of the frittata…
Good news is the stats on half the frittata: 318 calories, 11g carbs, 11g fat, 41g protein, 3g fiber
Molto bene 
I say frittata, you say… ?
If I ever volunteer to come to your house and make you breakfast, you should consider yourself very lucky. You should also consider yourself forewarned:
For no dish, no matter how simple, will the kitchen be left unscathed. What can I say? I like to become one with my food 
And yes, that IS a bottle of wine next to the eggs.
I’ve always wanted to make a frittata, and this Sunday morning I was in the mood to get my cook on so I decided to give it a shot. Once I started googling frittata recipes, I realized I was lacking a major piece of equipment: a skillet that could go from stove top to oven without causing a fire. Dangit. That’s going on the T.J. Maxx list.
Since I had my heart set on eggy bliss, I decided to just use a standard glass pie pan. Does that mean it’s not a frittata anymore? Hmmmm what would its proper classification be? I say frittata, you say….. frrrrreggcasserole?
Something to ponder as the man pours your mimosa.
This frittata consisted of:
- 6 egg whites
- 3 eggs
- 2 Hot Chicken sausages (casings removed, cooked and crumbled)
- 1 large handful chiffonade spinach
- S&P, to taste
- Frank’s Red Hot, to taste (plus more for garnish )
- 1/4 cup diced tomato
- 1/4 cup diced red onion
- 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
- 2 tsp minced garlic
While I cooked up the sausage, and sautéed the onion, mushroom, and garlic, I got to egg crackalacking. Once the sausage was cooked and the veggies were soft, I stirred all the goodies into the eggs then poured into a pie pan that I’d coated with cooking spray.
Into the oven at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, and you’ll end up with this beauty:
The frittata set up PERFECTLY. Perfect temperature, perfect cook time:
I started off with just a slice:
But ended up eating precisely half of the frittata…
Good news is the stats on half the frittata: 318 calories, 11g carbs, 11g fat, 41g protein, 3g fiber
Molto bene 
Seriously. Make this. Now.
Last weekend, I posted a super simple super quick recipe for the Ahmygawd Breakfast Sandwich.
Today, I made a repeat of that masterpiece with the addition of some Frank’s Red Hot:
I swear to you, this breakfast sandwich is eyes-roll-into-the-back-of-your-head delicious.
If you are a yolk lover like me (and a sausage lover for that matter) do yourself a favor and make this for breakfast. Immediately!
Stats on the life changer: 255 calories, 24g carbs, 10g fat, 20g protein, 3g fiber
Ahmygawd Breakfast Sandwich
Yesterday morning, I was the picture of perfection and actually woke up at the time I had intended and did NOT sleep through my alarm for a solid hour. Let’s hope I can keep this up all week!
I rolled out of bed, and headed straight to the gym for a 30 minute round-and-round on the hamster wheel… elliptical. Then, straight from the gym (in all my sweaty glory) to the grocery store to buy all my foods for the week. Silly me forgot to pack a Luna bar or nourishment of any variety for my grocery conquest.
Bad news bears.
Needless to say, I was FAMISHED by the time I got home, and I was unfortunately facing a dilemma. Issue #1: I wanted eggs. Hot and dippy with ooey gooey smooth-as-butter yolk. Issue #2: I was also craving sausage…. as in Mary’s special eggs. I wanted yolk, but I wanted sausage. And I’m not talking sausage on the side. I’m talking sausage all up in my yolk.
It was at this precise moment that I concocted my PERFECT breakfast sandwich. The best of both of my worlds.
The Ahmygawd Breakfast Sandwich.
First, I sautéed half of a Honeysuckle Hot Turkey Sausage link (casing removed) in a pan:
Hello sausage! Ima eat you.
THEN I cracked an egg right on top of this mound of sausage:
The egg white dribbled down around the sausage and formed a glue to hold the whole shebang together. Once the underside was cooked, I flipped her over:
Whattttttt????? Insane.
And once that side was cooked (though not TOO cooked –we’re going for oozy yolk here) I slid the egg/sausage combo onto a toasted whole wheat English muffin:
World = Rocked.
Ah.my.gawd.
Stats on the life changer: 255 calories, 24g carbs, 10g fat, 20g protein, 3g fiber
What you’ll need:
- 1 link turkey or chicken sausage, casing removed
- 1 egg
- 1 English muffin
- 5 minutes to eat your face off
