This is my family’s favorite meal, it’s simple, it’s gluten free and it’s a crowd pleaser. This is a recipe I created after being inspired by a family recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag brown rice pasta (Tinkyada is the brand we prefer and can be found at any of your major grocery store chains.)
• Grapeseed Oil
• 1 red onion (we prefer red because of the cancer fighting benefits)
• 1 bag frozen bell peppers (red, yellow and green mix) – you can use fresh if you prefer
• 1 bag frozen broccoli (again you can use fresh too)
• 2 cans of artichoke hearts
• 1 package of Aidells chicken apple sausage (this is a family favorite, precooked and found for a great price at Costco – no MSG, No nitrates, No hormones. Aidells has many different flavors but we love this one because it does not include any added sugar.
• Olive Oil
• Parmesan cheese
• Pesto – optional, but especially good if you have fresh made pesto from the garden

Vegetable Pasta Medley with Pesto

Start your water boiling for pasta – add a couple drops of oil to the water so the noodles don’t stick together. Heat a large sauce pan on low with a couple tablespoons of grapeseed oil. Chop your onion and add to the sauce pan.  Sauté (sauté = to cook and make the onion softer) the onion for 5 minutes on medium heat. Then add the frozen peppers and broccoli and cover to let simmer. Put your sausage in the oven on high broil for about 10-15 minutes since you are heating the already pre-cooked sausage (turning them at 5-7 minutes). Add your pasta to the boiling water, stir and set timer according to directions on back of package. Chop the artichoke hearts and add to the sauce pan. Remove the sausage from the oven and slice. Add to the sauce pan. Finish and drain pasta and dump into a large bowl. Make sure all ingredients in the sauce pan are cooked (thawed and hot), stir and then dump into the big bowl on top of the pasta. Add olive oil and parmesan cheese (pesto if you choose this option) to taste, toss, serve and enjoy! If you get adventurous try adding your favorite vegetable into the mix and let me know what you add and how it turns out!