Saturday night before the first soccer game of the season

I love Saturdays because they're a time that I can sit back and enjoy cooking things that I would otherwise not have time to do on a weeknight.  For this one, it wasn't too hard, or time consuming ... but I have to admit, I'm a big fan of carb loading before soccer games (or long runs) and since Shells is a fan of carb loading pretty much anytime ... this dinner was always going to go over pretty well.

I took the approach that if one protein is good, two must be better, so I added some broiled Black Grouper to this dish.  You can choose whether there is anything you'd like to add, or if you want to just go with the base recipe here.

Noodles with Sausage Sauce
1 small yellow onion
1 large yellow bell pepper
2 Italian sausages (I used Whole Foods Tuscan Pork) (about 2/3 lb)
1 can (14.5 oz) Petite Diced
1 can (8 oz) Tomato Sauce
1 tsp crushed red pepper
2 tsp garlic pepper
7 large Shiitake mushrooms

Dice the onion and bell pepper, rough chop the shiitake mushrooms.  Remove the casing from the sausage and add to a 3 qt sauce pan over medium heat with a splash of Olive Oil.  Using a wooden spoon, break up the sausage as it cooks.  After about 5 minutes add the onion and bell pepper, continue stirring as they cook (if things start sticking to your pan, a splash of white wine will deglaze the pan and free the food).  Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, crushed red pepper & half of garlic pepper reduce heat to a simmer.  In a separate saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat ... once oil is running clear add the Shiitake mushrooms and the remaining garlic pepper.  Agitate the mushrooms repeatedly while waiting for the liquid to release and then re-enter the mushrooms.  Once the liquid has come back in the mushrooms, add to the sauce ...

At this point the sauce is ready to go, just add your favorite pasta, maybe a little cheese, and enjoy!