Recipe Variations

I love this recipe because it’s such an easy weeknight meal. Once the prep of cutting the vegetables is done, it takes less than 30 minutes until the whole meal is done. I also love how many vegetables can be stuffed into this meal. I have listed the usual ones: onion, pepper, and some spinach; however, any vegetables you love would go great in this dish. I decided to put zucchini in the orzo this time and it turned out amazing! It’s completely optional, but it’s one of my favorite vegetables that’s so versatile, so I’ll keep adding zucchini. If you like, you could add mushrooms, peas, eggplant, carrot, really anything you want. To me, the sky is the limit to adding veggies into this dinner. I especially love a one-pan meal like this, because I don’t have to prep all the veggies separately in order to have a meal that’s filled with vegetables.

Another variation to this recipe is the meat you choose to add in. Today, I’m using the Costco Kirkland brand Parmesan and black pepper chicken sausages. The pack comes 3 packages of 6 sausages each, so I se just 1 pack of 6 in this. I think chicken sausage tastes great, and I like that it’s a little healthier than pork sausage, so that’s what I typically use in this dish; however, pork sausage is still delicious in this recipe! It does add some cooking time, because you have the cook it through before chopping it up and adding into the vegetables. But, this doesn’t have to be a sausage dish either. Some chopped rotisserie chicken would be easy, cheap, and taste so good in this recipe. One thing that makes this recipe so great for a weeknight meal is you can throw in whatever needs to be used up in your fridge. Any sort of meat or veggie that’s about to go bad would be great in here! I love preventing food waste in my kitchen when I can. When I create a recipe like this, I tailor it to my own tastes, so make what you like! If you’re new to cooking and feel more comfortable following this step-by-step, then I promise you won’t be disappointed. If you know what you like and want to change this recipe up, then let me know what you do and how you like it! I’d love to get some new ideas!

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of chicken sausage (6 sausages)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large sweet onion, diced
• 2 peppers, diced
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 8 oz orzo pasta
• 4 cups chicken broth (or 4 cups water and 2 chicken bouillon cube)
• 2 cups water
• 1 10 oz bag of Spinach
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (I encourage the real stuff, not the grated cheese in the green cans)

Instructions:

1. Chop chicken sausage into bite sized pieces and throw into a pan on medium heat. The sausage is precooked, so I like to just heat it through and get some golden-brown color on it. Remove the sausage from the pan and set aside.

2. Pour the oil into your pan get it heating on medium heat. Once hot, throw in the onions and let them cook for about 5 minutes, just to get them started. Put in your diced peppers and let cook for another 5 minutes.

3. Season everything with salt and pepper. At this point I like to put in all my other seasonings too. Now, add in the orzo, but not the chicken broth, yet. Let the orzo toast for 3-5 minutes. After that, add in your chicken broth and water, then stir everything together.

4. Orzo takes 8-10 minutes to cook, but follow the directions for the specific brand you’re using. After the orzo has boiled 8 minutes, or is almost completely done, add in the entire bag of spinach and your cut up sausage. Stir until it’s all mixed in and the heat will wilt down the spinach. Turn off the heat. I recommend tasting for seasoning and adding more of whatever you think it needs.

5. Off the heat, add in the cup of Parmesan, stir it all together, and plate it!

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I think this is a delicious meal that is made so easy by only requiring one pan. To me, one pan meals are so much more fun to cook, compared to having to cook each part of the meal separately. I also love that this dish contains every component of a healthy meal. It has veggies, carbs, healthy fats, and plenty of protein. I love pasta dishes, but don’t love having to make sides to fill in any missing nutrients. But with this pasta dish, I don’t have to worry about any of that, and it has become a heavily repeated meal for me.