Sausage and Peppers Pasta Recipe

In an attempt to finish out my September goals, I photographed my Sausage and Peppers Pasta recipe last Thursday and... wow. I have a new respect for food bloggers! It took me over two hours to cook, take measurements, and photograph everything. Our kitchen counters are not the cutest so as things were finished cooking, I hauled them over to my plain white office desk for photos. That took way too many trips and by the end I was starving, but luckily had a ton of pasta to chow down on!

Even though it took me a little while, I found that I really enjoy taking pictures of food for some reason. Maybe it's that the colors are so bright and fresh or maybe it's because it's new to me, but I hope to do more of this in the future!

Anywho, the hubs and I are trying to save up money to buy a house one day so we have been much more conscious about our spending (eeek eating out was one of our WORST habits). Not wanting to give up eating yummy food, we've delved into learning how to cook restaurant quality dinners for a fraction of the price. We also love that most of what we cook becomes leftovers so we are spending much less on lunches as well! This recipe is inspired by Olive Garden's Chicken Scampi. That is seriously my faaaavorite meal, but it is so expensive to go out to eat all of the time. I decided to create my own chicken scampi-ish dish, substituting sausage for the chicken because that's what we had on hand and absolutely loved it! I re-named it Sausage and Peppers Pasta and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite dishes to cook. Without further ado, here is the recipe:

Sausage and Peppers Pasta Recipe by Ashley Baker

Ingredients:
5 links of hot Italian sausage
1/2 Yellow Bell Pepper
1/2 Orange Bell Pepper
1/2 Red Bell Pepper
1/2 Purple Onion
1/2 package of the 16 oz Box Angel Hair Pasta
2 ounces Beer (substitute with Chicken Stock)
4 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
4 tsp salt
4 tsp garlic powder
4 tsp cayenne pepper
4 tsp ground black pepper
Juice from 1/2 Lemon

Directions:
1. In a frying pan, sear both sides of the sausage links on medium heat for 1 minute. Once seared, pour two ounces beer (substitute: chicken stock) so that it covers the entire pan. Cover with a lid and let simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes or until cooked.

2. Chop 1/2 Red Bell Pepper, 1/2 Yellow Bell Pepper, 1/2 Orange Bell Pepper and 1/2 Purple Onion. Coat a pan with 2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil and saute all vegetables. Sprinkle 2 tsp each of Salt, Garlic Powder, Cayenne Pepper, Ground Black Pepper, and Thyme onto the vegetables as they cook. (I like to leave them on for awhile so they get a little burnt.)

3. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil and cook 1/2 package of Angel Hair Pasta for approximately 8 minutes or until cooked.

4. In a frying pan, melt 4 (heaping) tablespoons of butter, the juice from 1/2 a lemon, and 2 tsp each of Salt, Garlic Powder, Cayenne Pepper, Ground Black Pepper, and Thyme. Let simmer on low for 2-3 minutes. This will become the sauce for the pasta.

5. In a large bowl, combine pasta, peppers, sausage (cut to coin size), and the sauce. Mix and Serve!