Roasted Chicken Sausage Pasta with Pomegranate Garden Salad

The July sun's scorching up the East Coast, not to mention, late sunsets and long, humid days. The kids love it, however. I mean, who won't like to stay out playing till nine in the night, carelessly chasing fire flies and never wanting to accept that it's almost beyond dinnertime!

The hardest thing for me is to have my little boy stocked up with energy for his summer evening playtime. Summer vacation in a new neighborhood brought with it new friends for him and new challenges for me to keep him up and running. I would have to ensure he's eaten a healthy lunch before he steps out.

I always stash up on boxes of pasta and tons of veggies to make this easy lunch for him. He loves pasta. Yes, most kids do! But, more often than not we all end up cooking pasta along with store-bought sauces. In my case however, my son is not fond of ready sauces, which certainly increases my efforts, but gives me more opportunity to explore new flavors that enhance pasta. So, most often I end up making pasta in other ways.

So, here's a dish that can perk up your protein and satiate your taste buds!


I hope you have your water boiling to cook the pasta by now. Let's jump straight into the recipe now, shall we?

ROASTED CHICKEN SAUSAGE PASTA



Ingredients
2 Cups Cooked Pasta
2 Cups Choice of vegetables, partly cooked (I have used steamed broccoli and carrots. Some suggestions would be carrots, beans, peas and corn.)
1 tsp Garlic paste
3 to 4 Chicken sausages, cooked and sliced
1/2 Onion, finely chopped
3/4 Cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded (Add more if you like it!)
2 tsp Chili powder (Optional - You can even use any other spice you want)
Olive oil
And, of course, some salt to taste!

Method
- Heat about 1 tbsp olive oil in a large wok
- Toss in the garlic paste and stir just a few seconds
- As it splutters add the onions and stir fry until translucent
- Now, add the chicken sausage slices and chili powder
- Stir fry on medium heat
- Add the veggies and stir for another minute
- Let this pasta sausage mixture cool for about 2 minutes
- Meanwhile, preheat an oven to 300F
- Transfer the pasta sausage mixture into an oven safe dish
- Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella cheese over the pasta sausage mixture
- Place in oven for about 15 minutes or until the cheese browns on top
- Serve hot

SERVES 2 to 3

Let's get cracking on the quick, refreshing salad so we're closer to eating this scrumptious meal before too long! You can scale the ingredients to as much or as little as you want and store this in the refrigerator for another meal, too. I personally love the bursts of the tangy sweetness the pomegranate seeds add to a salad. You have to try it to believe it!

POMEGRANATE GARDEN SALAD

Ingredients
1 medium sized Cucumber, deseeded and thinly sliced
1/2 Red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 Cup Iceber lettuce, chopped
1/4 Cup Pomegranate seeds
1 tsp Ground pepper powder (Add more if you like to!)
1.5 tbsp Olive oil
1 tsp Fresh lemon juice
And, of course, some salt to taste!

Method
- For the dressing, mix together the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper
- In a large bowl, mix all other ingredients and pour the salad dressing over the same
- Toss until dressing mixes thoroughly
- Place in refrigerator for about 20 to 30 minutes (or longer if you plan to serve it later)
- Serve with your favorite entree

SERVES 2