Penne-palooza

I was home a little early Monday night, so I decided to make a dish that I could eat for the week and not get sick of. I had an onion and some chicken sausage I needed to use. Voila...out came a really tasty dish. The caramelized onions give a night sweetness to complement the sausage. I've been eating it for 3 nights and I'm still not tired of it!


Baked Penne with Chicken Sausage and Caramelized Onions
1 lb chicken italian sausage (raw)
1 medium onion (thinly sliced)
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
5 oz whole wheat penne (about 1/2 box)
1 cup marinara sauce
4 Laughing Cow light swiss wedges
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese


Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease a 9x9 pan. Boil penne pasta according to directions. Heat a nonstick skillet to medium and add a tablespoon of the olive oil. Remove sausage from casings and crumble in pan. Cook sausage until browned, about 7 - 10 minutes. Remove sausage and set aside. Add the remaining oil and add the onion. Turn up to med-high and cook until onions are brown, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat then combine with sausage. In a small saucepan, combine the Laughing Cow wedges with the marinara sauce. Stir until thoroughly combined then set aside.

Assembly: On bottom of 9x9 dish, spoon half of the chicken/onion mixture, then half the pasta. On top of the pasta, ladle half of the tomato/cheese sauce. Then repeat. On the 2nd sauce layer, sprinkle with the parmesan cheese. Then bake for 20 minutes. Makes 3 large servings or 4 small.