Back in the kitchen!

So Meg & I headed back into the kitchen this month after being side tracked most of last year :)

We agreed to try one of Sam the Cooing Guy's recipes! Love his show & this was such a simple easy dinner. Click here for the original RECIPE ...

On one of his episodes on FitTV he took this same recipe & lightened it up. That's the recipe we followed. And SO glad we did...I was floored to hear that 1 cup of whipping cream has 821 calories AND 88 grams of saturated fat...uh HELLO? Even in a recipe that serves 6...I would be dishing up an extra 136 calories AND 14 grams of saturated fat. Skipped it & didn't miss it :)

This was a quick & easy go to recipe for those busy week nights & it got 2 thumbs up from Jim too!

Spicy-ish Sausage Pasta (the low-fat version!)

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 lb. of penne pasta we used dreamfield low carb penne pasta - YUMMY!

1 lb of spicy Italian sausage we opted for regular Italian sausage to make it more kid & heartburn friendly!

4 cloves of garlic we used 6!

3 tablespoons of butter we forgot it & never noticed :)

1 can of fat free evaporated milk

1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons of fresh parsley we choose to use 2 cups of fresh baby spinach instead to add some veggie to it!

and 1 teaspoon of Red Chili Pepper Flakes ...more on this later!!

First thing meg did was fill a pot of water & get it on high for our pasta.

She heated the oil in a medium sauce pan & squeezed the sausage out of the casing. Sometimes we can find the Italian sausage ground in a pack w/o the casings...but not tonight! Meg wanted to know what the casing was made out of...I didn't even go there with her..bleck!

While the sausage browned & the pasta was tossed into the SALTED water to boil...I showed Meg (and Lauren!) how to use a garlic peeler and then she minced up the garlic with a FOOD CHOPPER....she's hip to the shortcuts now :)

The garlic got added to the sausage pan & cooked for just a minute our 2. We drained off the grease & returned the sausage garlic mix back to the pan. Added the can of condensed milk, let it come to a boil, added the Parmesan cheese and chili flakes & let it cook off until it was a thick creamy sauce! Took about 10 minutes. Right as it was done, we added the fresh spinach & let it wilt for a minute.

(Meg likes to use kitchen shears instead of a knife for chopping up the spinach!)

Drained the pasta (Mama had to jump in for that!)...and then added the pasta right into our sauce. Stirred and topped with a lil more Parmesan cheese & it was DINNER Time!

This is a keeper & one Meg can totally do on her own! You can see I have an agenda here :)

Meg said she learned that a little chili flakes goes a long way & next time she would cut that amount in half. It was a bit spicy...but SO good!

Until next time...Bon Appetit!