Cheap Meals: Italian Sausage Rigatoni

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

Italian Sausage Rigatoni is a cheap meal for dinner that our entire family loves. It only has three ingredients and combines pasta with the flavors of a Italian sausage sandwich, which makes it a huge hit in our house. It’s also a quick meal that gets you in and out of the kitchen without a lot of fuss.

I like to stock all three ingredients so I have them handy for those days when I need a good dinner fast.

Italian Sausage Rigatoni

Ingredients:

-Rigatoni $1.40

-Italian Sausage $4.00 (You can use turkey sausage if you want to reduce the fat content.)

-Jar of Newman’s Own Italian Sausage & Pepper sauce $2.40 (This sauce adds really great flavor to this recipe, however, you can substitute a different red sauce if necessary.)

Total estimated cost:$7.80 (Note all prices are approximate and may vary depending on where you live.)

Cooking time: @60 minutes but only 15-20 minutes of actual work.

Feeds: At least 4, maybe 6 if you have a few light eaters.

Extra cost savings: Newman’s has some online coupons that you can download for an additional savings.

Instructions:

1.Preheat oven to 375F.

2.Take a sharp knife and slit the sausage casings and remove.

3.Place sausage in an ovenproof dish and bake until done (approx. 30-40 minutes–cooking time will be longer if you’re starting with frozen sausage).

4.When the sausage is nearing completion, start the water for the rigatoni.

5.Cook the rigatoni for 8-10 minutes until done.

6.Drain the pasta.

7.Remove sausage from oven and cut into small pieces.

8.Add sausage to pasta along with the Newman’s sauce and stir.

9.Top with grated cheese and serve.

Note: I typically don’t do a side dish with this meal or add any other veggies. Simply because it is a filling meal and I count the tomato sauce as a veggie. However, if you so desire, a side salad would complement this recipe nicely.

P.S. I’m working on a picture. My husband ate the model before I could do a photo shoot.

Tags: cheap meals, italian sausage rigatoni, quick rigatoni with italian sausage
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