You know the drill – its late, you sat in traffic, kids are hungry, you don’t really feel like cooking, but like clockwork, these people that live in your house want to eat – every day! Well, you are in luck – I am going to share with you one of my favorite non recipe recipes. I’m calling it Sausage & Peppers, but once you get the idea, you can swap out all of the pieces for whatever you have on hand.

The Sausage & Peppers can become Chicken & Broccoli or Bacon, Spinach & Mushroom – it’s quite magical.

I’ll give you the rundown of how I prepare it all and then of course if you still feel like you need a recipe (even though you won’t), I’ll put it here too.

Start by bringing water to a boil in a large sauce-pan and salt liberally. I love celtic sea salt for the added minerals and the briny flavor. While your water is coming up to a boil on the stove prepare the rest of the dish.

Set a dutch oven on the stove to warm at medium heat and put about 2 tablespoons of good quality olive oil or ghee on the bottom of the pan.

While the pan heats and the water warms, prepare the rest of your ingredients. For this version, I sliced up a package of Blinski’s Chicken Sausage with Garlic & Spinach. I had some of those cute baby peppers on hand so I sliced up a few of those too. The frozen tricolor peppers work well here too (Trader Joe’s has these and I always keep them in my freezer just in case). If I had more energy, I might have minced up some garlic too, but I was not feeling spunky tonight, so I finished the dish with a little bit of garlic infused olive oil.

Add your sliced chicken sausage and peppers to the oil and sauté until it is browned and the peppers are cooked and turn the heat down to low.

Once the pasta is cooked, spoon the pasta into the pot with the sausage and peppers. I like to use a spider or a slotted spoon.

Spoon some of the pasta water into the pot to help make a sauce. Add some butter, spices, cheese, salt and pepper to taste. In this case, I used some fresh marinated mozzarella and added some of the oil and seasonings from the marinade. This is a great way to easily add extra flavor to the dish. Again – there are no rules here – thats what make it a non recipe – recipe.

From start to finish this whole dish took me about 25 minutes to prepare. All four of my children ate every bite which counts as a huge win in our house and we had a little left over to put in a lunchbox the next day. This recipe is a lazy mom’s friend.

Gluten Free Sausage and Peppers

Prep 30 minutes
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 package Chicken Sausage (I used Blinski’s Spinach & Garlic)

1 Bell Pepper or 3 mini bell peppers

2 Tbs. Good Quality Olive Oil

1 package GF Pasta (Tinkyada is my favorite brand)

4 Balls Fresh Marinated Mozzarella

1/4 Cup Parmesan cheese – to taste

1/2 tsp. Salt & Pepper – to taste

Instructions

Bring heavily salted water to a boil over high heat.
While waiting for the water to boil, slice the sausage and peppers and heat the oil in a Dutch oven.
When the oil is hot, add the sausage and peppers and brown. Wait 2-3 min before stirring to allow the surface to caramelize.
When the water comes to a boil, add you pasta and cook according to package directions.
Once the sausage and peppers are browned, turn the heat down to low to keep it warm while waiting for the pasta to finish cooking.
Using a slotted spoon, move the cooked pasta to the Dutch oven and add a splash of the pasta water as well to help create a sauce.
Stir all of the ingredients together in the pot and add the cheese and season with salt and pepper.
Finish with the parmesan cheese and serve.