Convertible Pasta

Pasta is such a fun dish to make! It’s one of the few meals I feel like I can make without having to look at a recipe, and it’s so interchangeable (thus the name)! As long as you have some pasta on hand you can do just about anything with it. Fortunately, being GF doesn’t stop me from enjoying one of my favorite foods!

Here’s what I like to do with my GF pasta…

The cast for this dish:

Not pictured: Italian seasoning, Parmesan, and 4-cheese Italian cheese blend (still new at the whole photographing my cooking thing).

My favorite GF pasta is Tinkyada. They make GF lasagna, spaghetti, elbow, penne, and angel hair pasta!

Brown the sausage first, and while that’s happening roughly chop the onion and mince the garlic.

Like my cutting board? My sister-in-law knows how to shop for me!

When the sausage is almost cooked, begin boiling the water for the pasta in a large pot. After sausage is cooked through, drain in colander to get rid of some of that grease.

In the same skillet used to cook the sausage, begin cooking the mushrooms and onions until they look about like this:

I added a little Italian seasoning to the onions and mushrooms for additional flavor!

When water is boiling, add pasta to pot. I like to add a little olive oil which seems to help the pasta not be so sticky. GF pasta is stickier than wheat pasta in my opinion. I also think GF pasta needs a little more salt than wheat pasta, so be sure to sprinkle that in!

Right before the pasta is finished cooking, add sausage back to skillet to let all of the flavors mingle for a bit. Then add garlic and stir to combine. Keep heat on low until ready to combine with pasta.

Drain pasta and add back to large pot. Add sausage/onion/mushroom/garlic mixture to pasta and combine. Pour in about 1 cup of marinara sauce (I like Emeril’s Tomato and Basil) and about 3/4-1 cup of plain non-fat Greek yogurt depending on how creamy you like your pasta. You could also use low-fat sour cream. Once combined, stir in 1/4 cup Parmesan and 1/4 cup Mozzarella or Italian cheese blend. Sprinkle with parsley (I used dried parsley since I had it on hand) and serve.

I didn’t try this tonight, but I think you could also pour the entire pasta mix into a casserole dish, top with cheese and broil for about 5 minutes to get the cheese all brown and bubbly. Serve with a little salad enjoy the deliciousness!

Full Recipe (without pictures)

Ingredients:

• 8 oz dried GF pasta
• 1 package of mild Italian sausage
• 1 small onion, roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 8 oz sliced mushrooms, rinced
• 1 C marinara sauce of choice
• 3/4-1 C plain non-fat Greek yogurt OR low-fat sour cream
• 1/4 C Parmesan
• 1/4 C Mozzarella or other Italian cheese blend
• Dash of Italian seasoning
• Dried parsley
• Salt to taste

Steps:

• Brown sausage, drain in colander
• Cook onion and mushrooms in same skillet used for sausage
• Meanwhile, boil water for pasta and cook pasta until al dente
• Add sausage back to skillet with onions and mushrooms, combine
• Stir garlic into sausage/onion/mushroom mixture
• Drain pasta, add back to pot
• Add sausage/onion/mushroom/garlic mix to pasta, combine
• Pour in marinara sauce and Greek yogurt/sour cream, stir to combine
• Stir in cheeses, top with dried parsley, enjoy!