Something comforting

It's the holiday weekend, but no relaxing BBQs for us. Alexis has softball games the entire weekend...but Chad was nice enough to let me stay home today.  I got quite a bit done.  It's always nice to have the house to myself every now and again.

I was really in the mood to make tacos tonight, but for some reason I passed up that idea for something a little more comforting.  I went the cupboards to make sure that I had everything I needed for a hearty pasta dish. It was my lucky day!!  So here is a quick run through of what I did.

Comforting Goulash
1-lb of lean ground turkey
1-lb of ground sausage
1 small onion (diced)
1 cup mushrooms (sliced)
1 red pepper (diced)
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
several turns of the pepper mill
1 (14oz) can of diced tomatoes
1 (14oz) can of diced tomatoes (with basil and oregano)
1 (24oz) can of tomato sauce
fresh basil
fresh oregano
1 box of gemelli pasta

I browned the turkey and sausage until it was cooked almost completely.  I then added the onion, mushroom, red pepper, garlic and pepper.  I let all that cook until the onions started to get translucent and opened the cans of the diced tomatoes and sauce.  (I am a diced tomato addict!  This is one thing that I am sure to have on hand at all times.  They are great for soups, sauces and even salsa!  I cant wait until I can start canning my own!)  Then I hopped over to my window sill and pulled off some fresh basil and oregano (another great thing to have on hand) from my plants. I tore up the leaves and added them to my sauce.  It was starting to smell wonderful!

I made the box of pasta as directed, but cut about 4 minutes from the cooking time.  I wanted to leave the pasta a little undercooked so that it would finish in the sauce.  I drained the pasta and tossed it in with all the other ingredients.

My mom used to make goulash all the time. I remember she used to use a can of tomato juice and she always used the macaroni noodles.  This was always one of my favorite meals!  Can't really go wrong with pasta, meat and tomatoes.

Woot!  It's now on the kitchen stove on low heat.  Chad, Alexis and Brandi (friend of Alexis) will be home in about half an hour.  So it worked out perfectly!  I plan on making some garlic bread to go with the pasta.  I hope that everyone else finds it as comforting as I do.