Brown Rice Pasta Meat Sauce

Here’s that recipe I promised you yesterday. It’s a great substitute for white pasta or even whole wheat or whole rain pasta. It’s also delicious.

Brown Rice Pasta Meat Sauce

Servings= 6

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
6-8 fresh mushrooms, sliced and halved
1 bell pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 tsp. Dried Italian Seasoning
1 tsp. Dried Basil
½ tsp. garlic powder or more if desired
1 lb. ground turkey
1 jar of Trader Joe’s Marinara Sauce
1 1/2 cups dry, Trader Joe’s Rice Pasta Fusilli

Directions:

Dice the peppers, onion, and sliced, halved mushrooms. Sauté in a frying pan with a little olive oil. You can also add a few shakes of the dried seasonings with these vegetables as well. Sauté on lower heat until cooked to desired tenderness. Remove from frying pan before adding ground turkey to cook. Set veggies aside.

Crumble ground turkey in frying pan and add a little more olive oil. Stir as needed so turkey doesn’t burn or stick, but cook thoroughly. While meat continues cooking on medium heat, add seasonings and stir frequently.

Measure 1 1/2 cups of uncooked Trader Joe’s Rice Pasta Fusilli. Add pasta to hot water and boil according to package directions. Cook until tender and drain thoroughly. Set aside.

Once meat is cooked add to a food processor until mixture is a more uniform mixture.

In a separate pan, add meat mixture, vegetables, and jar of Trader Joe’s Marinara Sauce and stir thoroughly. Cook on low, stirring often until most of the watery portion is gone.

Pasta should be cooked by now. Be sure to drain well before placing serving portions on dinner plates.  Spoon meat/vegetable mixture over pasta. Serve immediately.

The leftover meat/vegetable/sauce mixture can be refrigerated for another meal or two with any remaining pasta, and be an easy heat-n-eat meal.