apple-sausage rigatoni

Travis and I love each other.  A lot.  We like to share things.  Even colds.  (Thanks, babe.)  I woke up Wednesday morning feeling quite stuffy.  Runny nose, congestion, a slight cough, nasal pressure - on top of being 37 and a half weeks pregnant.  Not fun.   At my doctor appointment on Thursday, my doc hooked me up with an Rx to try to kick the cold asap.  It has helped immensely.  (The appointment went well - doc guesstimates our guy to be about 7 lbs. at this point, no dilation, but my cervix is starting to soften, so we continue to wait...patiently.)

Anyways, after laying low for a few days, I'm finally back to cooking dinner and working on a few projects.  Tonight for dinner I tried a new recipe - "apple-sausage rigatoni".  It requires few ingredients, only a couple of steps, and start to finish time was quoted at 25 minutes.  A nice, easy, tasty dinner is great to have on hand.  (This one will be great to whip out during the first few weeks of welcoming our newest family member home.)  The flavor combination of the sausage, apple, and cheese is so enjoyable.  This recipe is a keeper.  

If you're interested, here's the how-to:

Ingredients:

6 oz. dried rigatoni (about 2 cups)
8 oz. cooked smoked sausage, halved lengthwise and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 lb. Golden Delicious apples, cored and cut into 1/2-inch thick slices (I used 2 Granny Smith apples - next time I might use 3)
1/2 c. whipping cream
1/2 c. crumbled Gorgonzola or other blue cheese
snipped fresh basil (optional) (I used dried, and little fresh ground pepper)

all of the needed ingredients for this quick and easy dinner - minus the basil and pepper

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.  Set aside.  In the same pot, cook sausage until lightly browned.  Add apples; cook, stirring occasionally, until apples are lightly browned, 5-7 minutes.  Stir in cooked pasta, whipping cream, and cheese (and dried basil & fresh ground pepper).  Heat through.  Makes 4 servings.  (If actually feeding 4 adults, it might be best to double this recipe.)  Enjoy!

finished product - couldn't have been easier!