Better Than Spaghetti

Ground Beef & Italian Sausage

Marinara sauce

Spaghetti noodles

& Parmesan Cheese

The cast of members for a well-known favorite.

Spaghetti.

Inexpensive, fast, simple, family-friendly, and comforting. 

However, whenever I say I'm going to cook spaghetti for dinner, I usually mean something more like this sausage and pepper pasta.  While it's not really spaghetti, the boyfriend and I have both agreed that we like it much better than spaghetti!  

I used to make this as my Inside-Out Stuffed Peppers. I would brown sausage and ground beef, mix in acini de pepe or orzo and some marinara, and add lots of sauteed bell peppers.  However, it was a little too rich and heavy on it's own.  I love the conversion of this to a pasta dinner, and the leftovers are great!  I used colorful peppers in this because they are sweet and beautiful, but you can definitely try it out with green bell peppers.  You can also sub in regular pasta noodles in place of the egg noodles.  

Just have fun with it!

Forgive my lousy photography skills--the pictures just don't do this dish justice.

Sausage & Pepper Pasta

4-5 sweet italian sausage links, casings removed

2 T. olive oil

3/4 c. onion, diced

1/2 ea.--red, yellow, orange bell pepper, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 c. white wine 

2-1/2 to 3 c. marinara sauce

1 t. Italian seasoning

1 t. salt

1/8 t. pepper

pinch crushed red pepper 

1 T. sugar

2 T. fresh parsley, chopped

4 T. fresh basil, ribboned

12 oz. egg noodles

Brown italian sausage.  Drain. Drizzle olive oil in large skillet.  Saute onions until slightly translucent.  Add in peppers.  Continue sauteing until tender, yet crisp.  Add in garlic and saute for 2-3 more minutes.  Toss in cooked sausage. Add in seasonings (no sugar) and white wine.  Allow white wine to reduce almost completely before mixing in marinara sauce.  Heat until warm and bubbly.  Add in sugar to cut the acidity of the marinara sauce, followed by parsley and basil.  Serve over cooked egg noodles.  

Sorry about the clutter in the background!

I prefer to leave my sausage kind of chunky.