Every week, menu planning in this household can be a joy and a pain. We argue about what we want, we figure out who’s cooking what, and we bring up food we’ve been craving.

We try to balance things out when we plan our menu. Chicken, pork, soup, pasta, something fried, some veggies, something with tomato sauce, something cheesy or creamy.

Last week, I decided to make pasta with sausages, but I changed things up a little.

Ingredients

• Sausages – Peel off casing and chop. I like to cut them into coins, then cut the coins into half. Lately we like using the Aguila brand.
• Penne pasta
• Tomatoes – Cut into rings.
• Onions – Cut into rings.
• Olives
• Capers
• Olive oil
• Basil
• Black pepper
• Parmesan cheese – We recently tried the ChizBoy brand, and it’s really good!

Procedure

1. In one large pot, boil water for pasta. Cook pasta according to instructions. When the pasta is cooked and drained, drizzle with olive oil to keep them from sticking.
2. In a large skillet, add some olive oil. When oil is hot, saute sausages. I did this in batches, so that each piece was nicely browned, and it wasn’t crowded in the pan. Also, don’t use too much oil, as the juices from the sausages will pool in the pan too.
3. When you’re done with the sausages, mix them with the pasta. Add basil and black pepper, to taste.
4. In your skillet, add some butter and cook the onions until soft. You might want it a little crunchy, or completely caramelized, so it’s up to you how long you cook them. Once done, add to pasta.
5. In your skillet, add some olive oil and add the tomatoes. If you have a lot of tomatoes, do this in batches, so that each tomato slice cooks nicely. Flip to make sure each side is cooked. Once done, add to pasta.
6. When all the ingredients are in the same pot with the pasta, mix thoroughly. Serve hot, with Parmesan cheese on the side for sprinkling!

Enjoy!