Recipe: Italian Vegan Sausage with Whole Wheat Penne & Vegetables

I mentioned not long ago that I recently re-introduced macaroni into my rotation of dinner foods. I had avoided it for a long time because I thought a one-cup portion was just too small to satisfy me. But after making it one night, I realized it was perfect. This is one of the throw-together meals I came up with:

Ingredients (amounts listed are for 1 serving as I made it tonight. Vary as desired-):

• Whole Wheat Penne (1 cup cooked) 3 points
• Olive Oil (1 tsp) 1 point
• Peas (1/2 cup)
• Onion (1/2, chopped)
• Shallot (1, chopped)
• Garlic (3 cloves, chopped)
• Field Roast Grains Italian Vegan Sausage (1, chopped) 5 points
• Barilla Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce (1/2 cup) 1 point

First, I made the macaroni per the directions. I happen to like it al dente, so it was ready pretty quickly. While that was going, I chopped my vegetables and had them ready:

I heated my iron skillet and added olive oil. When it was hot, I added the peas first (since they were frozen and would take longest to cook):

After a minute or two, I added the onion, shallot & garlic:

Then I added the sausage:

And the tomato sauce:

And added 1 cup of the cooked penne:

After a couple of minutes it was done. I topped with red crushed pepper and garlic salt (if I had fresh basil, I would have added that too):

This was a lot of points as I made it above (10) but it was a lot of food and so satisfying. In retrospect (now that I've consumed it), I should have split it in half and made two meals out of it. Or I could have used half a sausage link when I cooked it (dropping the total down to 7.5 points).

Other variations: I mentioned I didn't have any fresh basil. If I did, I would have topped it with that. Also, if I had red and/or green peppers available, I would have added some of them during the cooking phase.

I've made a few different versions of this meal and every one of them was fantastic. I just love the combination of the whole wheat penne, vegetables, tomato sauce and those unbelievable vegan sausages. From there, add vegetables and spices and voila! Instant delicious and healthy meal!