One Pot Pasta Dinner - Receipe

I'm always on the hunt for something new to make for dinner (preferably quick and without tons of off the wall ingredients). I've found quite a few recipes on Pinterest. Some have been amazing, while some have left us ordering Chinese take-out.

Side Note: The first year of our marriage, I made so much spaghetti that my husband as officially boycotted it. At that time we were on a TIGHT budget (if you could even call it that) and truthfully Taco Bell was cheaper than cooking at home. We literally survived off Taco Bell, frozen pizzas and the infamous spaghetti. Yum.  

While he's not exactly picky he is one of those people that has to have some sort of meat, whether it be chicken, beef, pork - whatever in every meal. So when I found this one pot spaghetti dish that had sausage in it plus many ingredients that I already had - I was stoked!

I found this on Damn Delicious from Pinterest. (I'm now obsessed with her blog)

I did change a few things, but here is her recipe:

Took about 5 minutes to prep and 12 minutes to cook. 

Ingredients

• 1 pound spaghetti
• *1 (12.8-ounce) package smoked andouille sausage, thinly sliced
• *1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 3 cups halved grape tomatoes
• 2 cups basil leaves
• *4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 cup grated Parmesan

Instructions

• In a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat, combine spaghetti, sausage, onion, tomatoes, basil, garlic and 4 1/2 cups water; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until pasta is cooked through and liquid has reduced, about 8-10 minutes. Stir in Parmesan.
• Serve immediately.

*NOTES: I'm not a huge pork fan, so I used beef sausage. Also, I don't cut onions. I just don't. So I bought the pre-chopped ones (picture below) from the grocery store and also used the pre-chopped jar of garlic I had on hand, which again I think actually worked better. I let mine simmer for about 12 minutes. For softer noodles I would suggest about 15 minutes. I used one container of grape tomatoes (cut in half), but next time I'll use two.

(This last picture is it still simmering - maybe another 3-4 minutes. I forgot to take a final picture because I was so hungry!)