Easy Pesto Pasta & Italian Sausage

I've had a cold this week. Ugh! I tried to rest more than usual and ate lots of oranges to help my body heal faster. Luckily it only lasted a few days and I'm feeling much better now. I had skipped my mid-week run in order to go to bed earlier so I moved my longer weekend run to tonight to get it out of the way. That meant I got home later so I wanted something super easy and fast for dinner. And this was it:

Pesto Pasta & Italian Sausage
Serves 2

8 oz penne pasta
2 Field Roast sausages, Italian style
1/4 cup pesto, from a jar or make your own (but read below)

Cook pasta according to package directions. While pasta is cooking, slice sausages into 1/2 inch rounds. Once pasta is cooked, drain and toss with pesto and sliced sausages. Easy!


I'm a big fan of pesto. It's soooo delicious and so versatile. I make my own from basil from my garden in the summer, and then freeze it to use all winter.


However, now it not a good time of year to make your own pesto. In the winter you are far better off just buying a prepared version in a jar. Classico makes a good brand. Basil is just too expensive right now and would have to travel a very long way to get to your kitchen. Summer is the best time to make pesto, when the basil plants are growing like crazy and there's more than enough growing nearby. Basil is easy to grow right in your backyard, or you can buy it at your local farmers' market.


This recipe also gave me a chance to try another variety of Field Roast sausages, the Italian version. I previously used the apple-sage sausages in Butternut Squash Pasta. I liked the Italian version a lot. It was very good in this dish and would also be good on pizza or in a veggie soup. I think there are a couple more versions I haven't had yet and I'm looking forward to trying them.