Good morning world and all who inhabit it! I’m feeling a little extra peppy this evening after a delicious black beans and sausage bow ties dinner! While this dish may be amazing all on its own I have to say that our sausage really made this recipe sing! My Uncle went hunting recently with some friends and bagged himself a big ‘ol dear. He was very generous and gave us some dear sausage. This was my first time eating dear, and it was good! I was a little surprised. For some reason I had a feeling I wouldn’t like it, but I could not have been more wrong.
This dish is packed with so much flavor. I used to think that healthy meant no flavor, but I could not have been more wrong! The more I dive into healthy recipes, the more I realize how much I am lacking flavor. Fresh ingredients, especially organics, are beaming with flavor not found in processed foods. For some reason things started to change slowly over time to where our food has less and less flavor but more chemicals. I think the universal flavor now is… what… high fructose corn syrup? It’s in everything!
This change in our diet is becoming a challenge for Michael and I. We used to love going out to eat, and we didn’t really think about ingredients. Now that we have cut out all processed foods and replaced it with all-natural, fresh, homemade and (when we can) organic ingredients we notice just how much our bodies are unhappy with processed foods. We’ve started getting stomach aches when we eat processed foods. Anytime we eat high fructose corn syrup there better be a bathroom nearby because our bodies go into overdrive to kick everything out.
Just recently, Michael and I were able to sneak away from the kids. Mom came over to keep an eye on the place and make sure kids were cared for. We headed out to go clothes shopping and bowling. I found myself a couple awesome sweaters and snagged myself some burgundy skinny jeans. That’s besides the fact… stay on focus! Anyway, so we ordered food at the bowling alley (a very nice bowling alley) and ended up having to cut our date short. The food just hit us rather hard and quickly. I started getting cold sweats! Eating healthy is seriously ruining my ability to seek food entertainment outside of my own kitchen. Are we the only ones with this problem?
- 2 cups dried large bow tie pasta (4 ounces)
- 1 15-ounce can black beans
- 1 14.5 ounce can Italian-style stewed tomatoes, undrained
- 8 ounces cooked smoked sausage, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch slices
- 1/3 cup thinly sliced fresh basil or 1 tablespoon dried basil, crushed
- 1/4 cup feta cheese
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain; return pasta to saucepan.
- Meanwhile, in a large saucepan combine beans, undrained tomatoes, sausage, and dried basil (if using). Cook and stir until heated through. Add bean mixture and fresh basil (if using) to pasta; stirl gently to combine. To serve, sprinkle each serving with cheese.
