Butternut Squash Ravioli with Chicken Sausage and Brussels Sprouts (Dinner à la Trader Joe’s)

I love Trader Joe’s.  I have lived walking distance from one ever since I finished college.  It’s the perfect place for people who don’t have time to cook, don’t know how to cook, and/or don’t want to cook. They have lovely niche items as well as your every day staples – all at great prices.  There are a handful of items that I now purchase exclusively from Trader Joe’s not just due to their great prices and bountiful array of healthy options, but also because I’ve found that the TJ brand just tastes better than competitive brands (i.e., sun-dried tomatoes, butternut squash ravioli, dark chocolate, almond butter, turkey jerky, etc.).

Nothing hurts my soul more than a market-meanderer.  Those people set up camp in the aisles with no purpose other than to double the time my trip to the store is supposed to take.  They walk right in front of me and then stop to add nothing to their cart, staring longingly at the cheese puffs. I can be pretty patient with situations like these, but after waiting longer than what’s fair, I always intercede the wretched chicken stock-blocker with an “Excuse me, can I get by?  PS – you are the worst.” Okay, maybe that last part is just what goes through my head.

One mistake you never want to make is to go to a grocery store before you’ve eaten dinner without a list or idea of what you want to eat. You’ll end up buying way too much stuff and be one of those aisle-cloggers I so detest. I did exactly this last week (sans aisle-clogging), and decided to try to make my hoard somehow work.

I wanted to make something with the TJ butternut squash triangoli (super low in fat and calories for what it is, btw) and brussels sprouts. But what?  I ‘ve paired bacon with brussels sprouts many a time, so I decided to try it with chicken sausage. However, chicken sausage generally isn’t as sweet as bacon and I didn’t want to get something as sweet as a chicken apple sausage which would compete with the sweetness of the triangoli.  Being obsessed with the California sun-dried tomatoes from Trader Joe’s as it is, I got a package of those and then went with the sun-dried tomato chicken sausage.

Cooking the brussels sprouts in the chicken sausage grease (I know – it sounds so gross) gave the otherwise pretty bitter brussels some great flavor.  Here’s my “recipe”.

Ingredients:

• 1 package Trader Joe’s Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Sausage, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small Vidalia (sweet) onion, diced
• 1 bag of Trader Joe’s brussels sprouts (16-oz), halved
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Trader Joe’s Everyday Seasoning
• Half a package of Trader Joe’s California Sun-Dried Tomatoes – Julienne Cut
• 1 package Trader Giotto’s Butternut Squash Triangoli, cooked
• Grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat a nonstick skillet to medium-high heat.  Slice and cook sausage til brown. Transfer sausage to a plate covered wtih a paper towel, without losing any of the drippings.  There won’t be very much as it is.
2. Heat olive oil in the same skillet, and cook the  onion and garlic until the onions become soft, scraping up the bits of the sausage drippings that have now browned. Add about 4-6 turns of the Trader Joe’s Everyday Seasoning.
3. Add brussels sprouts and cook until slightly softened but crunchy, about 10-15 minutes.
4. While the brussels sprouts are cooking, prepare the triangoli according to package directions.
5. Toss everything together, add some the sun-dried tomatoes and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
6. EAT.

I like dishes that combine sweet and salty, so this might be a bit off the beaten path but I’ve really enjoyed it. Hopefully you can too!

P.S. This post is not sponsored by Trader Joe’s.  I just love them.