Pasta with Italian Sausage and Greens

So I have no clever name for this dish, but it is delicious and oh-so-nutritious. I got the recipe from a friend's blog, and made some adjustments to it to better fit my taste. Anytime Gary and I make pasta we try to overload it with veggies. Well, on a mission to fix a long standing Vitamin K deficiency I have had before I have to start getting shots (ouch!), we are on a leafy-green diet overhaul. Hence the spinach shakes for breakfast....
You can use any kind of greens you want, I used these just because I like them. I really did not measure the greens, I just put in as much as I could b/c I like to sneak them in.
Kale is an incredibly leafy green I have never used before, but it is so incredibly nutrient and Vitamin K rich I decided to try it tonight.

12 oz. penne pasta (I used the Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Whole Wheat)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb. sweet Italian turkey sausage- casings removed
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 large onion, thinly sliced, rings roughly separated
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
kosher salt, to taste
Kale (I used a whole "bunch")
Spinach (a few cups)
freshly ground pepper


Boil large pot of water and cook pasta to al dente while preparing the sauce. When pasta finishes cooking, reserve two cups of the pasta water before draining.


Heat garlic and olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and brown, breaking it up into crumbles with a wooden spoon. Add onion slices and saute until transparent, a little over five minutes. Add tomatoes, red pepper and a pinch of salt. Saute for about five minutes then stir to break up the tomatoes a bit. Add half the greens and stir to wilt it.

Drain the pasta and add it to the pan with the sausage sauce. Raise the heat to high and stir to combine pasta with the juices. Add half the reserved water and stir well. Add the remaining greens one handful at a time until all is wilted and incorporated into the dish. Add the remaining reserved water and cheese, stir well to combine the cheese into the sauce.

I put a bit of Parmesan on top when it was done. This was yummy, healthy, and very easy!