Butternut Squash & Sausage Over Pasta

We are getting so much of my favorite squash from our CSA right now! I love butternut squash in loads of recipes. So tasty in soups, breads, and to me the texture screams "fall".

Last night I decided to whip up a little something that I hadn't tried before. It contains all the foods we like together - onions, peppers, garlic, and sausage. I like the taste of butternut squash and mild italian sausage together as well, so I decided to mix it all up! Before the end of the meal my husband was saying, "this is my favorite... absolutely" between bites. Which if you haven't guessed from some of my other posts my hubby comes from a long line of men who can eat. He likes everything, but only LOVES some dishes.

So if you're like us and you've got butternut craziness in the house try out this recipe...


Butternut Squash & Sausage Over Whole Wheat Pasta


1 medium butternut squash
1 pound of mild italian sausage
olive oil
1/2 onion
1/2 red bell pepper
2 garlic cloves (chopped to preference)
4 sprigs of rosemary
sea salt
black pepper
whole wheat pasta of choice
shredded mozzarella (optional)


Preheat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit. Peel, remove seeds and chop butternut squash. Place chopped squash on greased baking sheet, drizzle olive oil and sprinkle fine bits of rosemary (save about half for later) and black pepper. Bake the squash for 25 minutes (if you choose to have larger butternut squash bites increase baking time) or until squash is soft. Brown sausage in skillet on stove top. Chop onions and peppers. Cook them in skillet with olive oil (or small amount of grease from sausage) over medium heat for about five minutes. Add garlic. Cook about four minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Boil water and cook pasta according to package (or desired softness). When the squash comes out of the oven, increase the baking temperature to 450 degrees fahrenheit.

Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of 9 by 13 oven safe dish. Mix together the baked squash, sausage, onions, peppers, garlic and pasta. Drizzle more olive oil over top. Sprinkle remaining rosemary bits and a few shakes of pepper and salt. Bake in the oven for about ten minutes, add shredded mozzarella if desired (allow cheese to melt).

Remove from oven and allow dish to sit a few minutes. (If your pasta is dry in some areas from baking either drizzle a bit more olive oil or mix the dish to redistribute the oil and moisture from the vegetables)

Plate up and enjoy!

**While eating we decided that next time we have this for dinner we might add either roasted red peppers or sun-dried tomatoes. Feel free to experiment with that.