Penne Dinner and Valentines

I had a hankering for Trader Joes the other day and decided to make the trek to the store. The biggest thing I love about TJs is the minimalistic qualities of the store. (My computer spell check is telling me that minimalistic is not a word but it sounds cool, so why not?) I love not being distracted by the chaos of a real grocery store - all the stuff that is crowded on the shelves of other stores. I spent $40 there the other day and I think we've already used up everything that I bought which to me means money well spent.
One of the things I bought was roasted garlic chicken sausage. Not something I'd usually reach for but something I knew Den would love and I needed to shake up my recipe making. So I searched and searched online for a recipe that fit what  I wanted to make, a penne pasta and chicken sausage dish. There were plenty around but nothing that fit what I wanted so I decided to pull from a bunch of different recipes and make my own.
This is what came out of it:

A pot full of deliciousness

It really was very good and the leftovers were even better. I probably made enough to feed 6-8 people but I always make more of dishes like this so we can have leftovers throughout the week. I love recipes like this because you can change any and everything to fit what you have in the pantry or fridge. 

Here is a rough outline of the recipe:

- 1 box of penne pasta (I used barilla plus because I love the idea of extra nutrients squished in everywhere)

- 1 can of petite diced tomatoes lightly drained

- Cut up broccoli florets

- Chopped cremini mushrooms

- Chopped asparagus

- Sliced chicken sausage

- Minced garlic

- Dried basil

Boil pasta in salted water. In the last 5 minutes throw broccoli in the water to cook. Reserve some cooking water to make sauce. 

Brown chicken sausage in olive oil. Remove from pan and set aside, drain fat, if any. Add more olive oil and saute mushrooms, garlic, asparagus until almost done. 

Add basil (I think I used about 1/2tsp?), tomatoes and cooking water. Scrap up brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Add sausage, pasta and broccoli and toss. 

I added some shaved parmesan to the top of this dish and it just added that extra little bit that was missing. I got this amazing cheese at Trader Joes also for pretty cheap. 

The next day we used that cheese to make homemade pizzas for lunch:

Lily's pizza on white wheat toast topped with broccoli, mushrooms and turkey pepperoni. (She took all the toppings and cheese off and ate that first!) 

Mommy's pizza served on french baguette we had leftover from  the pasta dish.

And the valentines:

Valentines for the playgroup kids. Inside says "You are loved" I added  a dark herseys kiss on the outside and a sheet of toy story sticks on the inside. 

Den's Valentines Surprise. "I love" and...

...all the reasons I love him :) 

Valentienes for the family that I made the other week. Lily's hand and the quote "Where there  is great love there is always miracles." 

Can I just say...I never want to cut a paper heart ever again? ;) Totally worth it though!