Southwestern Sausage Skillet

I finally remembered to pick up some of the fire roasted canned tomatoes I had read about in a couple of recipes. I put them to use in this dish and it turned out great.

Ingredients:
* 1/3 pound bulk pork sausage
* 1/3 cup chopped onion
* 1/3 cup chopped green pepper
* 3/4 cup canned diced tomatoes
* 3/4 cup buttermilk
* 3/4 cup uncooked small pasta shells
* 1 teaspoon sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
In a skillet, cook the sausage, onion and green pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
Stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until pasta is tender. Yield: 2 servings.

First thing to do is grab your ingredients.




You can substitute ground turkey or beef in this as well. You could even use the fake meat crumbles if you wanted to have it vegetarian.




Chili powder and some sugar.




Dice up your onion and green pepper.




Grab some pasta.




Measure it out so you can add it when you are ready. Having everything measured and ready to go before you even begin cooking makes it a lot less stressful.




I didn't have buttermilk but I had some yogurt. This created a little bit of an unpleasant white speckled look after I added it but tasted just great. Everything is measured and ready to go, lets start cooking!




Brown up the ground meat with the onions and peppers.




Drain if needed.




Add in the rest of the ingredients and bring it to a boil. I had to add some water so I actually had some liquid to boil in since I was using yogurt instead of buttermilk.




You can see the white speckling from the yogurt, but I assure you it was delicious. Cover and simmer until the pasta is done to your liking.




I topped it with a little bit of grated cheddar and also thought about adding some crumbled tortilla chips, until I discovered we were out. Tortilla chips are a food group to the hubby.

I hope you enjoy this southwestern quick meal. I am glad to be back and look forward to sharing a lot more dishes in 2009!