Simple. Quick. Delicious. One of our favorites.

There are a lot of us out there who are somewhat carbohydrate obsessed.  Or at least, I like to think I'm not alone.  I would take a soft, bready treat over candy any day.  When it comes to my meals, there is almost always a disproportionate amount of carbs to proteins..... quarter plate of protein....quarter plate of veggies.... half a plate of carbs.  Yep.  That's how my dinner plate usually looks.  For those of you who also like to chow down on the carbs, I have a wonderful, simple and quick meal that may  just become a favorite in your house like it is in ours.

Pasta with Broccoli and Chicken Sausage

You'll need:
-1 lb. pasta, your choice
-2 crowns of broccoli
-two cloves of garlic
-half a package of chicken sausage (we like the roasted red pepper, or spinach and mozzarella for this meal, but you can choose whatever you think sounds good--that's the benefit of chicken sausage!)
-olive oil
- 1c. romano cheese

To make:

1) While heating the water for the pasta, cut broccoli into bite-size pieces (not too small)
2) When water is ready, put in pasta.  Set timer.  Cut chicken sausage into 3/4 inch pieces. Put 2TBS olive oil in a skillet and add crushed garlic cloves; set on medium.
3)  When pasta is at about 6 minutes left to cook, get it to a rolling boil.  At five minutes, add broccoli and cover.  (Keep a boil going to cook.)
4)  When oil in skillet is hot and garlic is translucent, add chicken sausage.  Cook until browned.
5)  When pasta is cooked, drain, and add 1c. romano cheese, and olive oil to desired taste.  Add salt and pepper to taste as well.  Add sausage.

Here are some pictures of when I recently made the recipe, but note that this is a double batch.  We had a lot of broccoli to use up (5 crowns I think!) and since my family gobbles this stuff up, my husband recommended I just double the batch.  I couldn't stir everything together well at the end, so I ended up just putting the cheese on top instead of into the bowl.  And this was the first time I'd used linguine--usually we use shells or radiatore or penne--and I will say it's a lot more difficult to stir when all is said and done!

(This is my son enjoying his reflection in the pot!)