Smoky Sausage Pasta (Slow Cooker)
My kids have been getting on quite well lately. Mostly this has been a welcome blessing. But occasionally, it simply means that they are being thick as thieves and are up to something they shouldn’t be.
The other day, my husband and I were pleasantly surprised when not only did our two young children not fight, but they actually disappeared off upstairs to play together. We enjoyed a lovely period of peace and quiet, sipping on cups of tea and relishing the calm.
After a little while, two little grinning faces appeared at the living room door, holding a piece of red wool. I thought this was a bit odd, since the only wool I could remember us having was in a cupboard they don’t go into, and hadn’t been use in quite a while. Then I noticed that it wasn’t just a small piece of wool they were brandishing. It was dragging behind them. They giggled. I sighed.
“Kids… how far does that string go?”
The giggles became chuckles.
“Up to mummy and daddy’s room!”
Fits of laughter.
Yes, as it turned out, my kids had unwound a ball of red wool over three floors, starting by winding it around the end of our bed on the top floor, and wrapping it through stairs and items on the second floor and all the way down to us. To top it all off, where the string had had a casual stray into the spare room, they had emptied the contents of the cupboard the wool had come from onto the floor…
Ah, the joys of parenting!
Whether your parenting days are currently filled with every inch of your house being wound in red yarn, or whether you are separating fighting siblings or trying to get through a morning without someone whingeing or crying at you, we all have our parenting moments. Sometimes those “moments” stretch to days, or even weeks. The phases come and go, but in the more difficult or tiring times, when it comes to dinner, we need to make healthy, filling food as easy as possible. It needs to be quick, simple, and affordable.
That’s exactly what this dinner is. Because after you have unwound all that red wool from every room in your house (still an easy, small – and don’t tell the kids, but quite amusing – price to pay for a bit of quiet), you’ll be grateful you put the slow cooker on and just need to boil a bit of pasta to get a delicious, smoky, tasty, healthy, vegetable-packed dinner on the table that everyone will enjoy.
So put your feet up, and enjoy the calm, whether it lasts for 30 seconds or 30 mins! This yummy pasta dish will be waiting when you reach the bottom of the cup of tea. No fuss. Plenty of veg. And lots of happy full tummies.
A really easy, quick and affordable pasta dish that is sugar free and packed with vegetables. Perfect for a busy family day when you want dinner to practically make itself.
- 2 onions, finely diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 6-8 sausages, cases taken off and meat rolled into "meatball" shapes
- 200 g (1 cup) green lentils
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 250 ml (1 cup) passata (or chopped/plum tomatoes)
- 250 ml (1 cup) stock (vegetable or meat)
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp smoked paprika or chipotle flakes (for smokiness)
- 150 g (1 cup) frozen peas
- 150 g (1 cup) frozen sliced peppers or mushrooms
- large handful frozen chopped spinach or kale, optional
- large handful pitted olives
- cooked pasta or vegetable noodles, to serve
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Brown the onions, garlic and sausages in a little oil in a saucepan set over medium heat for 3-4 mins. If using a slow cooker, transfer to the crock pot and add the lentils, puree, passata, stock, oregano and paprika or chipotle. Stir to mix, then turn the slow cooker on High for 3-4 hours or Low for 6-7 hours, checking on the sauce towards the end of cooking time to ensure it doesn't stick or burn (if it starts to catch, just add a little more stock or water). For the last 30 mins of cooking time, add the remaining ingredients and cook again. Serve over cooked pasta or vegetable noodles, or throw in a tin of butter beans, call it a stew and serve with crusty bread and a side salad (my answer to every meal!).
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If you don't have a slow cooker, after browning the onions, garlic and meat, add the lentils, puree, passata, stock, oregano and paprika or chipotle to the saucepan and stir to mix, then bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 15-20 mins, stirring regularly, until the sauce is thick and smoky. Add in the frozen veg and olives and cook for another 5-10 mins until everything is cooked through. Serve as you would from the slow cooker.
