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Fresh Vegetable Rotini Bake With Smoked Sausage

I got this idea from my vegetarian friend Amy. I love it because it’s so easy to swap between meat or meatless, and it’s not completely boring and lacking if you take out the meat! (If you are like me, meals for your vegetarian friends usually consist of a pizza, or fettuccine Alfredo! Totally boring for them I’m sure!)
So here is what you will need:

Ingredients

2 C. Rotini, or any pasta (I like to use a corkscrew pasta, but use whatever you want.)
1 Package Smoked Sausage (I use turkey, but beef or pork, or kielbasa is fine too)
1 medium yellow squash
1 medium zucchini (or 2 small as I had to) 
1 large can black olives, drained
1 carton sliced mushrooms
1 jar tomato based pasta sauce
garlic (however you like it; garlic salt, garlic powder, fresh garlic, or minced in olive oil (o/o) as I use)
Salt/Pepper
Oregano
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Directions

First, put on the new apron your husband bought you for Christmas! Thanks hubs! 😉 
Ok ok…back to cooking!
This dish is started and assembled on the stove, then finished in the oven. The noodles need to be cooked to al dente, so I start them first. You can boil a pot of water with salt and cook them that way, but I just decided to let the microwave do the work for me. I put about 2 C. of noodles in a microwave save bowl with enough water to cover them completely, added some salt, and microwave on HIGH for 5 minutes. 

Five minutes was perfect for my noodles, but you may need more time if you are using more noodles. Just leave them in the water and set aside.

Meanwhile, while the microwave is doing it’s magic, I get started on the sausage.

I slice the sausage in half lengthwise (long side) first, then chop it into bite-size pieces….about an inch wide.

Use a pot that can be transferred to the oven. If you don’t have one, just use a large skillet to cook with, then transfer everything to a casserole dish to finish baking.

Put a little o/o in your pot (about a tablespoon) and turn the heat to medium (or about 5 on a numbered dial). Here you would add the fresh garlic or garlic minced in o/o. J reminded me that I forgot to add it, and we had to add garlic powder in the end instead. Add the sausage and just let it heat up. It’s precooked, so won’t take much cooking, but I like to get it browned a bit. It adds some extra flavor!

While the sausage is cooking, I get started cutting my veggies! Wash your squash and zucchini, and then cut the same way you did the meat…down the the length first, then chop into about one inch slices. The base of the squash is usually bigger, so I might cut it into fourths, then continue slicing it. I just want all of my pieces (of veggie and mean) to be uniform in size to they all cook evenly. If you end up with a few pieces that are a bit large, then just cut them in half. 

So now I have my squash and zucchini cut. While cutting, I have been watching the meat and stirring it occasionally.

Mushrooms that are pre-cut have generally already been washed too, but I still give them a quick wash. Cooking guidance has long said that you should only wipe mushrooms with a damp paper towel because washing and submersing them will make them tough and rubbery. I have heard from a credible reference that is not true! Although you should not soak your mushrooms, the best way to clean them is to fill a bowl with water, add the mushrooms, swirl them around with your hand a few times, then promptly remove them from the water. I did this with mine last night, and they were just perfect! 
I an not a huge fan of the texture of mushrooms, so if I put them in a dish, they have to be small. So I just did a rough chop on mine. They cut really easily…just pile them up and press your knife into them. Pile and press, pile and press, and you will have a nice pile of variable size pieces!

Now, my sausage has browned nicely so I am ready for the next step! I would drain the grease now if I had any to drain. As you can see, this is a pretty lean sausage so there was not much in there, but if you use a different meat or sausage and have more than a teaspoon of grease in your pan, then drain in before continuing on to the next step.

Add the squash and zucchini to the pot, and stir it around. 

Add some s&p and oregano. All to your taste preference. I added about a teaspoon of oregano, but you can do more or less. Give it a good stir and cover. Let it cook for a few minutes to get the vegetables cooked to al dente (al dente means that they are still slightly firm, but not raw). 
After a few minutes and a stir or two, you can add the mushrooms, olives, pasta (drained), and sauce and mix it all together. 
A note on sauce: A lot of commercial pasta sauces have unnecessary sugars added. Look at the label ingredients and choose a sauce that does not add sugar! I use Tomato Basil Sauce by Classico.

 Now you can add about a cup of shredded mozzarella cheese!

And stir well… (if you have to transfer to another oven-safe dish, you would do so now.)

Then level out the mixture and top off with another cup or so of cheese. You can use more…I won’t tell! I had a brick I was shredding from, so I just used the rest of it. 🙂

Now it is ready for the oven! Bake uncovered at 375ºF for about 15 minutes…until it’s all melted and bubbling!

The cheese is perfectly melted and gooey! Serve with some garlic bread or breadsticks or just some crusty bread! Bon Appétit!

This recipe made enough for about 6 servings, so we decided to try to freeze some. We just filled a plastic freezer bag and flattened it. I’m not sure if it will freeze well, but I’ll update this when I find out!

UPDATE: This did freeze pretty good. The flavors held up well but the noodles got a bit mushy. To thaw, I just put the whole unopened bag in a pot of boiling water until it was thawed, then reheated it from there. Make sure to add some fresh cheese!

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