My daughter asked for comfort food. One of our favorites is pasta with a creamy sauce. We had some Italian sausage to use up and a creamy spaghetti sauce was the perfect bowl of comfort food.
Verdict: This made my daughter so happy. Her college food has been awful and she has really struggled at the end of the semester to find things to eat. She has been eating far too much take out and simple take-away meals from the grocery store. Just about everything edible at her school is fried and the salad bar has no protein on it. Like she says if they had ham, turkey, bacon, cheese, something to bulk up the veggies she would be happy. She says simple things like rice is served crunchy and vegetables are corn or burnt. Although she does like the Brussels sprouts and will eat a whole plate of those when they are served.
So, I made her a big bowl of comfort with a side of green beans (not burnt).
Creamy Sausage Pasta
Ingredients:
- 1 pound extra wide linguini pasta
- 1.5-2 pounds Italian bulk sausage,or removed from casings
- 2 teaspoons powdered garlic
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 (28 oz) can tomato sauce
- 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cups pasta water (I generally use about 1 cup but like to have extra just in case)
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
- ¼ cup fresh chopped basil (if desired)
Directions:
- Saute onion on medium-low heat for 5 minutes to soften.
- Add ground sausage to pan and turn heat to medium. Break sausage apart with spoon while cooking.
- Add the salt, garlic powder, oregano, tomato sauce, and tomato paste to the sausage and stir it all together. Cover and cook on medium to medium low for 30 minutes.
- Boil pasta according to package directions. Before draining pasta reserve 3 cups of pasta water.
- Remove lid from sauce at 30 minutes and add 1 cup of pasta water. Stir together and cook for 5 minutes uncovered.
- Turn heat to low and add cream. Stir together well and cook for 2 more minutes. Taste sauce and adjust spices as necessary.
- Mix the sauce and pasta together and if it is not creamy enough add a ½ cup of pasta water to loosen the sauce. Do this in small increments to get the perfect consistency.
- Finally add the chopped basil, if desired, and serve in bowls with Italian bread, grated cheese as desired.
What's for Dinner Moms? 
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