If you don't try this pasta, I am going to unleash a vague threat with marginally negative consequences

Every single day I try to teach my patients skills to avoid food pushers.

“Oh have some of these brownies I just made!”

“No thanks.”

“But it’s a new recipe!”
“Nah, I’m really not hungry.”

“Oh come on- just try a bite!”

Yeah that sort of thing. We’ve all probably been on both sides of that scenario.

So I do realize the irony when I end up being the food pusher. I know I shouldn’t. But you know what? I am a traditional girl and I totally get my jollies off of:

1. Cute outfits and
2. Great meals

I made a meal last night that I would’ve fed the whole neighborhood had I been able.

Knock knock.

Who’s there?

Roasted sweet pepper and sausage pasta ALL OVER YOUR FACE.

That’s who.

Roasted Sweet Pepper and Sausage Pasta

2 bags of those baby sweet peppers (if your store doesn’t have them buy 6 assorted bell peppers)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 package lean turkey sausage, spicy or sweet Italian

2 medium yellow onions, sliced

2 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup all purpose flour (don’t sub whole wheat here)

2 cups skim or 1% milk

1 teaspoon minced garlic

¼ teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon chili powder or hot sauce

1 box whole wheat penne or other pasta

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cut up your peppers into thin-ish strips. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Roast for 30 minutes, stopping at midpoint to stir them up.
2. Meanwhile bring a pot of water to boil. Add your sausages. Cook until internal temp registers at least 160 degrees.
3. While those are cooking, heat up your remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan. Add onions. Add cooked sausages- the point here is that now the insides are cooked, but they’re going to be kind of puffy and inflated from the water. Let’s char them a weensy bit.
4. Once sausages are somewhat browned, remove the whole pan from heat. Quick slice the sausages into coins, and return to heat until both sausages and onions are softened and slightly browned. Remove from heat.
5. Dump our your old gross sausage water, or dare your husband to chug it for $10, and replace with clean water. Heat that to boiling and cook your pasta according to package directions.
6. Are you still with me? You’ve earned your glass of red wine tonight. Remove those nicely browned peppers and run ‘em through a food processor. This yielded me with about 2 cups worth of pepper puree.
7. In a smaller saucepan, heat up butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour. Stir for a few minutes to ensure the resulting paste (ew?) has heated up. Pour in your milk. Stir until mixture thickens and starts to bubble. Remove from heat. Stir in garlic, pepper, hot sauce (if desired), and pepper puree.
8. Combine all those lovely ingredients- the pasta, the sausage/onion mix, and the glorious sauce, and go push this dish upon everyone.

Makes six servings. Per serving: 490 calories, 28 g protein, 8 g fiber