The decision not to buy any more charcoal has been made.
Three of the five barbecue / grilling appliances have been put into winter storage and, today, when asked about grilling the chicken, mon mari uttered the dreaded words for the first time: You can do it inside.
I have been doing some indoor cooking for the last few weeks, but I think summer cooking is officially over now.
Well, except for this weekend when it’s supposed to be warm, but definitely after that.
It has been a weird fall – to match the weird summer.
So here we have the first skillet dinner of the winter season.
Click here to Pin Sausage, Spinach, & Pasta Skillet
PrintSausage, Spinach, & Pasta Skillet
This is an easy, week-night skillet dinner for 2. I keep bags of frozen spinach and peas in the freezer for quick winter meals.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: One Dish Dinners
- Method: Skillet
Ingredients
- 10oz (300gr) sausage, cut into bite-size pieces
- 8oz (240gr) spinach, chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1/2 red pepper, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 cup (8oz, 250ml) tomato sauce
- 1 cup (8oz, 250ml) chicken broth
- 1 1/4 cup (4oz, 125gr) pasta penne, rigatoni, fusilli
Instructions
- Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat.
- Add onion, pepper, and sauté 5 minutes.
- Add chili powder, paprika, garlic, and sauté briefly.
- Add sausage and sauté until it starts to brown, 3 – 5 minutes.
- Add tomato sauce, spinach, oregano, broth, and stir well.
- Add pasta, stir well, and bring to a simmer.
- Turn heat down if needed, cover and simmer 15 minutes.
- Stir occasionally to keep pasta from sticking, add more broth if needed.
- Serve from skillet.
Notes
I used frozen spinach, thawed, drained but not squeezed dry. If you use fresh spinach add 1/4 cup of water to make sure pasta has enough.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 recipe
- Calories: 592
- Sugar: 11.1 g
- Sodium: 1420.1 mg
- Fat: 21.4 g
- Saturated Fat: 6 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 66.6 g
- Fiber: 9 g
- Protein: 37.3 g
- Cholesterol: 45 mg
Keywords: sausage, spinach, pasta
Something different? Chicken, Rice & Butternut Squash Skillet
For the last 10 years (or so) I have been giving away winter squashes and pumpkins to anyone coming too close to our house.
Even after those efforts, we were eating butternut squash and pumpkins well into Feb. & March, and feeding the compost as well.
This year, it’s not even the end of Oct. and we only have a dozen or so small squash left and they’re not keeping well.
There will be lots more spinach, as well as other veggies in my dinners this year. Sadly, all of those other veggies are a bit more scarce and expensive at the moment.
I’ll be buying tins of tomatoes this year, too – for the first time in recent memory.
Life changes!
It has just been a weird year for gardens. I’m down to the last few tomatoes because there weren’t enough after all to freeze. The remaining ones on the vine never did ripen though I hoped they would. The cukes went nuts and then just stopped. Stopped. The assorted peppers continued to grow and I imagine I could probably still pick a few though we’ve had snow a couple days here. Not freezing weather mind, it’s stayed above 35, but it’s snowed. I’ll go out and check in a couple days when it warms up again, and pull everything so it’s all out at least.
Hubs would love this recipe. 🙂
After a week of cool weather, when we were just thinking about turning the heat on, it warmed up. We have now had the warmest Oct. on record. We had put all the fans away and the summer clothes – which is usual for the beginning of Oct. Then the temps went back up.
And the parsley that I planted last spring, that tried to grow and failed in the heat, is now flourishing.
And it’s just the year when home grown stuff could really help the budget !!!!
Because everyone’s garden, even the commercial growers, are in the same state, everything is more expensive. It’s a different world.
I can’t reply to your comment above, not sure why it’s not working, but my parsley is also taking off like crazy and it’s 31 here this morning! I’ve been checking it to make sure there’s no swallowtail chrysalis on it anywhere, I’d have to overwinter those in the garage at this time of year, but I can’t believe how it’s growing!
I’ve run into the same issue sometimes – can’t reply to a reply. The magic is messed up. In the 80’s again today lol