Healthy food of the week: Turkey Sausage Pasta
Healthy leftover idea: mini pizzas
This healthy meal of the week came about while I was walking the supermarket aisles shopping for food and passed by a section displaying various items for making homemade pizzas. Mmm, my favourite! Interestingly, there were these ready-made mini pizza crusts that needed nothing more than adding toppings and baking for 8-10 minutes. Plain pizza for 1/3 the cost, tastes fabulous and healthier too! Every 2/3 of a pizza is around 450 calories, so how much better can that be when you hear the word pizza?
Since each of our healthy meals for the week offers a leftover idea, and since the turkey sausage was going to be used as one of the pizza toppings, it was a simple combination to pair the extra with vegetable penne pasta. In either case, you can decide which of these meals will be the main course and which one you’d rather have as leftovers for lunch the next day; either of the two will be an excellent option.
necessary equipment
– skillet
– 2 pots – large and small
– oven tray (for mini pizzas)
– strainer
preparation time
– 10 minutes
Time to cook
– 25 minutes
Ingredients
(4-6 servings)
– 1 lean package of Turkey Sausages
– 1 Box of Vegetable Penne Pasta
– 1 small can of sliced olives
– 1 bottle of pasta sauce
– 1-2 large portobello mushrooms
– seasonings: garlic powder, salt and pepper
– olive oil
For mini pizzas
– small jar of pizza sauce
– 2 packages of mini pizza doughs
– grated low-fat mozzarella cheese
– additional ingredients you prefer
Addresses
1. Start with the turkey sausage, as these will be used for both the pasta and the mini pizzas. In a skillet over medium heat, spray with nonstick spray or coat with a little olive oil. Open the pre-made turkey sausages and place them directly in the pan as is. Let them cook for a few minutes on each side, then roll them carefully with a fork. Let each side cook well. The total cooking time will be about 22-24 minutes.
two. Once the sausages are cooked, you can start boiling the water for the pasta. Add a few drops of seasoned salt for flavor. Once the water is boiling, add the entire box of vegetable pasta and cook for 10-12 minutes stirring occasionally.
3. In a small saucepan over low heat add the bottle of pasta sauce. Rinse the portobello mushrooms and cut into chunks and add 3/4 of them along with 3/4 of the sliced olives to the sauce. You can add some garlic powder and pepper for flavor. Cover and stir occasionally for 10-14 minutes.
Four. Once the turkey sausages have finished cooking, remove them from the heat and using a knife carefully cut them into small pieces. 3/4 of the sausages will be used for the pasta and the other 1/4 for the mini pizzas if you’re making them, so keep that in mind.
5. When the pasta is done cooking, remove it from the heat and drain it over the sink using a colander. Once the water is removed, return to the pot (no heat) and add the pasta sauce along with 3/4 of the sliced turkey sausages.
6. Serve an appropriate portion, garnished with a little Parmesan or low-fat mozzarella cheese if desired along with a calorie-free beverage. You can always serve a green salad with Italian dressing if you like, but try to stay away from the breadsticks as that will add to the calorie count pretty quickly.
Healthy Leftover Idea: Mini Pizzas
As mentioned above, I didn’t know which meal should be the main course and which one for leftovers. Once you do these two beauties, you may have the same problem. If your local grocery store doesn’t have mini pizza crusts or the like, you may need to make/bake the crust from scratch or use an alternative option like Pillsbury crescents/rolls or whole wheat English muffins and put the pizza toppings on them .
In this example, everything was prepped and ready to bake in less than 5 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly coat both sides of the mini pizza dough with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and seasoned pepper. Using 3-4 tablespoons of pizza sauce, spread over one full side of the pizza dough. Add a thin layer of shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese, then add the sliced olives, diced portobello mushrooms, and sliced turkey sausage. Finally, sprinkle some more cheese on top and place on a baking sheet. Put in the oven for 8-10 minutes and when finished, cut and enjoy.
