English Peas & Chicken Apple Sausage Pesto Pasta

The title was already long enough so I didn't want to overwhelm anyone and add that this is also gluten free! But it is gluten free and I think that's super exciting for so many people who re struggling to find delicious recipes that meet their dietary restrictions. 

Now, this dish is a delicious gluten free entree that I would otherwise consider pretty healthy, but it is not dairy free. It definitely can be dairy free if you want to make a couple of slight adjustments to my recipe, though.

My family has not been strictly dairy-free and gluten-free for some time thanks to great news from our sons latest testing but we still maintain the diet as much as we can while at home. I have become so used to creating my own recipes and tweaking recipes that I find so it's no longer a struggle to cook something healthy and DF/GF for everyone to enjoy. We don't eat this way as a means of dieting per se, but both my husband and I agree that we feel substantially better when we eliminate both of those ingredients from our life. 

This dish that I made was a throw-together-dish, as I often call unplanned meals that consist of pantry & refrigerator items that I need to use sooner than later. I find that these last-minute dishes are some of my yummiest creations because it pushes me to use my creative-cooking skills. Think of it as a home-cooks version of Chopped but instead of experienced judges I have 3 tiny humans determining whether or not the dish is a winner. I don't know about you, but I'd take 3 professional chefs judging my dish over the harsh critiques of my own children!

As I mentioned, this recipe is super easy and very basic consisting of just 5 ingredients total and none of which have to be home-made. Talk about an easy weeknight dinner, right?

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English Peas with Chicken Apple Sausage and Gluten Free Pesto Pasta:

Ingredients:
(1) Box Gluten Free Macaroni Pasta
(1) Package of Chicken Apple Sausage
(1) Bag of Fresh Spring Peas
1/2 Cup Pesto
1/4 Cup Shaved Parmesan Cheese

Tips:
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*Since this recipe is so easy and adaptable you could easily use regular pasta instead of GF pasta.

*Additionally, eliminating the Parmesan cheese would make it dairy-free but I would suggest adding salt and pepper if you do that.

Directions:
1. Prepare the package according to the instructions. *Tip - I prefer GF pasta to be a bit al dente otherwise it can quickly taste mushy*
2. Saute the sausage in a saute pan with a few tablespoons of water on the stove. I let the water cook out and then brown the sausage fo an additional few minutes. Once cooked, slice and quarter so that the pieces are smaller bites - slightly bigger than the pasta.
3. I microwaved my peas for 2 minutes to get them a bit al dente - which is my preference. I like them to have a bit of a bite.
4. Place the 1/2 cup pesto in a large bowl, add drained pasta and stir. Add peas and gently stir followed by the sausage. I added half the parmesan cheese in and stirred to combine then topped the pasta dish with the remaining cheese.
​5. Serve immediately.

I am not ordinarily a pasta eater, even if it is gluten free. I can say that I honestly ate this entire plateful and then some - it was SO good!  The kids loved it and I was even able to convince the most difficult eater, Hudson, to eat all of his peas (I may or may not have added more to his serving, too.) With weeknights becoming busier and busier with sports, activities, and school functions filling our evenings, dinners like this are quick and easy and have good protein and vegetables, too! It's a win for everyone!

Enjoy!!