Sausage and Pasta Bake II

This recipe is pretty much the same one as I made before, but this time I attempted making my own sort of Alfredo sauce to go along with it...plus I added in some asparagus.

1 bunch of roasted asparagus cut into bite size pieces
1 package hot Italian turkey sausage - of course regular Italian sausage will work as well

1 pound pasta of your choice

1-2 cups fresh spinach

Sauce:

3 tbsp. butter

3 tbsp. flour

2 cups milk

1-1/2 cups cheese (we used 8 oz of cream cheese and the rest Parmesan cheese)

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. garlic powder

black pepper to taste

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. In the meantime, heat up a skillet, remove the casings from the sausage and add it to the skillet. Cook the sausage until there is no more pink.

For the sauce, add the butter and flour to a sauce pan and whisk on low heat until the mixture just starts to turn a light brown color. Add in the milk and whisk constantly until the mixture starts to thicken. (In the meantime, cook the pasta according to the directions on the box). Once it thickens a little, add in the cheeses, salt, garlic powder and black pepper and whisk to combine.

Drain the pasta and return to the pot adding the spinach so it begins to wilt. Also add in the roasted asparagus. Once the sausage is cooked, add it to the pot with the pasta, spinach and asparagus. Stir in the Alfredo sauce. Transfer the mixture to a 13x9 baking dish and top with grated Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Add parsley for garnish if you'd like. Enjoy!