Need an easy dinner that takes less than 30 minutes? This One Pot Sausage and Kale is easy, healthy and family friendly. Be sure to make extras for hubby's lunch the next day. 
Why didn't someone warn me that May would be the busiest month of my life? So busy that maybe it wasn't the best month to sign up for the neighborhood dinner club. Oh well, that's what I did and now I have 15 people coming over for dinner on Saturday. And this is on top of it being the busiest month ever at school with parties, luncheons, teacher gifts, sports playoffs and exams. Wish me luck!
Don't get me wrong: dinner club is so much fun but making dinner for 15 isn't super easy. I get nervous when I have 6 dinner guests. Just because I cook a lot doesn't mean I can easily feed a crowd. Last time I hosted dinner club I had 23 guests and we had grilled herbed shrimp along with Peruvian chicken that I ordered. I thought it would be too difficult to make all of the entrees and that worked out well - except I ran out of shrimp! Lesson learned!
This time, we wanted to have a beachy theme and my husband insisted on getting Maryland blue crabs. I reluctantly agreed. They are so delicious and it makes for a super fun party experience but they. are. so. messy. Hopefully, it won't rain and we will have a fun night.
I'll be sure to let you know how it goes, share my recipes and any tidbits of wisdom I learn about entertaining. Perhaps my wisest piece of advice will be - do not serve Maryland blue crabs for a huge crowd!
As always, I continue looking for quick, easy and healthy meals that my kids will eat. Honestly, they don't have to love them - I just want them to eat dinner and not complain.
Is that asking too much?
Last night I served pork barbecue and no one would eat it. Seriously, what is up with that? Sorry, I'm ranting, but I am still mad about it. Kids!
Did you actually think my kids ate everything that I posted on Seasonal Cravings? Sorry to burst your bubble.
The whole family enjoyed this but my kids ate it without the kale which was fine with me. This can easily be made gluten free using gluten free penne. There are so many tasty gluten-free pastas in the supermarket now. I remember when I had to search high and low to find some and they didn't even taste good.
This One Pot Sausage and Kale is easily made in one pot. I was nervous about letting the pasta cook in the sauce but it worked and the result is perfectly cooked, al dente pasta and a flavorful sauce.
This is going to become the base for many one pot pasta dishes that you start throwing together with leftovers!
One Pot Sausage and Kale
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 3 tsp diced garlic
- 1 pound of sausage gluten-free if necessary, sliced I used Aidell's
- 2 ½ cups chicken stock or broth
- 1 can Rotel tomatoes mild
- 2 cups penne pasta gluten-free if necessary
- 1 cup kale torn from ribs and chopped
- ½ cup parmesan or cheddar cheese for topping
Instructions
- Heat olive oil over medium-high. Add onion and garlic and saute for a few minutes, stirring often until it starts to brown.
- Add sausage to the pot and continue to cook for a few minutes.
- Add broth, tomatoes and juices and penne pasta. Stir well to submerge pasta and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for about 8 minutes or until almost done.
- Add kale and stir. Cook until kale wilts about 3-4 more minutes.
- Add parmesan, salt and pepper to taste.
Nutrition
The recipe is adapted from Cooking Light.
I feel like my sisters and I definitely annoyed my mom to the high heavens when we were growing up - she stopped cooking adventurous things and stuck to the staples that she knew we would eat. Don't worry though, we grew out of that and now eat more vegetables than she does, so there's still hope!! This dish looks lovely and I'm sure your kids were lucky to have their mom cook something so tasty!
Neighborhood dinner club! That sounds so fun! And super intimidating, like whoa. Good luck with the crabs, I'm sure it will be awesome! This kale pot looks amazing too. I heard this food critic on NPR the other day talk about how the kale obsession has gotten way out of hand, and should never be made into chips, but should be in hearty winter soups and dishes like this, where it has plenty of time to break down. It's the way I like it best! kale chips are sick, let's be real. haha. 🙂
I need this dinner in my weekly rotation Karen! So easy and one pot? I'm in!
This recipe sounds wonderful. I like one-pot dishes.