My Comfort Food: Pasta!

It seems as though it has rained everyday in south Florida.  I know, I know...we live in a tropical environment, but in the past it would rain for 45 minutes and stop.  Not anymore!  Now, it rains, and it rains, and then it rains even more.  So, after 500 lunges and 250 squats, I wanted pasta - warm, cheesy, comfort food pasta.  Plus, as an added bonus, this dish is sooooo easy to make.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 links organic chicken sausage, casings removed
Olive oil
1/2 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
sliced mushrooms (I use however much I have in the house)
1/3 cup artichoke hearts, quartered
sundried tomatoes
1 tablespoon flour
3/4 cup Cottage Inn White Wine Broth
red pepper flakes
pepper
juice from a half of a lemon
1 tablespoon butter (optional)
arugula and/or spinach (I used a combo of both tonight)
Parmesan cheese
1/2 package pasta (I cook for two - tonight I used Spinach Garganelli Pasta, but usually, it's whole wheat)

Cook pasta according to instructions and set aside.  While pasta is cooking, brown the sausage in a pan.  Break up into small pieces.  Once cooked, put sausage onto a paper towel to remove excess fat.  To be honest, the chicken sausage barely has any extra fat.

In the same skillet, and olive oil to the pan.  Once warm, add onions and mushrooms and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add garlic and cook an additional minute. Sprinkle with black and red pepper. Then add sundried tomatoes and artichoke quarters. Cook one more minute. Sprinkle flour over the vegetables and toss to coat.  After another minute or so, add chicken broth, lemon juice, and butter.  I'm sure you can use regular chicken stock, but this stock has such great flavor. Bring mixture to a small boil, then reduce heat.

Add a handful of spinach and/or arugula and cook for a few minutes more.

Place pasta in a large bowl and pour the sauce over the top (yummmm).  Toss the mixture and top with cheese (sometimes I throw a little cheese into the sauce while it's cooking too).

Seriously, this meal is the perfect soft blanket on a cold winter night (although it doesn't get very cold here).  Those squats and lunges were surely worth it!