Healthy-ish Eating with Shrimp and Sausage Pasta

Once upon a time, I was following the Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle/diet. Today, I do my best to cook the most fresh, unprocessed food for my family. I don't necessarily focus on cutting carbs or keto lifestyle...I just focus on making better choices. This recipe happens to be the most requested dish in our house...by none other, than my kids! This is the original recipe that I used, Mrs. Criddle's Kitchen. 

We have made a few adaptations to work for our family along the way. I do try to buy organic when available.....but we grab whatever is available! 

INGREDIENTS: 

2 packs turkey sausage

1 lb. of small shrimp 

1 cup grape tomatoes

1-5oz pack of baby spinach

1 pack portobello mushrooms

1 red bell pepper

Dreamfields Penne Pasta

1-8oz pack Parmesan Cheese

6 cloves of garlic

1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream

half a stick of butter

The first step is prepping all of the food. We go into teams for this in our kitchen! I have one kid that cuts the grape tomatoes (cut in half) and bell pepper (diced), while I cut the sausage. The other kid pulls the tails off the shrimp. This usually takes us about 10 minutes to knock everything out and we are ready to cook. 

I start the pasta first. I use Dreamfields because of the carb friendly-ness of it. I brown the sausage in one pan by itself while I prepare the shrimp in another pan. I run my 6 cloves of garlic through my press into a new skillet with the melting butter. 

Once it is all melted and smelling amazing, I throw the shrimp in and saute' it. As the shrimp finishes, I start throwing in my spinach a handful at a time. It looks like a ton until it cooks down. 

Now that the spinach isn't taking up the whole pan, I throw in the bell pepper, mushrooms, and tomatoes. 

You can now throw all of your browned turkey sausages in the pan too. Next, you put in the heavy cream and one cup of the parmesan cheese. I let this simmer for about 5-10 minutes...depending on what havoc is breaking loose in my kitchen at the moment! 

You serve this on top of the penne....and top with remaining parmesan. This recipe serves our family of 5, with plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day. I hate to admit, but it is even better the second day! 

From start to finish, this recipe never takes us more than 20-25 minutes. This is one of the many reasons I love it! I don't have time to spend 20 minutes prepping food and then another 30 cooking. 

All three of my kids love this! Did I mention that I managed to trick them into eating like 3-4 veggies?! 

I hope you enjoy one of our family faves!