Day 21 - January 24, 2014: Pumpkin Penne with Sausage (Rachael Ray)

On Friday night, I made one of our favorite meals.  Here is the link to the original recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/pasta-with-pumpkin-and-sausage-recipe.html

I didn't have time to pick up the fresh sage or garlic, which cut down on cost, both in ingredients and gas used to get to the supermarket.  I also use more pumpkin than the recipe calls for (about 1 1/2 cups) and I always get half sweet Italian and half hot Italian sausage.
So, this is what I spent:
Penne: $0.79 (yes, it was a really great sale; unfortunately, they limited me to 6 boxes, so I'll have to make it back to the store before tonight, to buy some more)
Sausage: $2.22 ( a little over a pound)
Wine: $1.25
Pumpkin: $0.99
Chicken Broth: $0.60
Onion: $0.20 (I only used about half of the medium onion)
Heavy Cream: $0.25? ( I used 2 Tbsp instead of 3, like the recipe says)
Condiments and Parmesan: ??, no more than $1, I'm guessing...
Total: less than $7.30

I added a green salad on the side for about another dollar, so I guess I should count that, too :)

 

Bon Appétit!

Verdict:
Caution: This makes A LOT of food!  Which, in our case, is good, because we love it so much that everyone always eats 2 portions of this.  My son only had one, but he is still working on an ear infection, so he just wasn't up for chewing too much.  And we still had 2 portions left, that my daughter and I shared with a friend after we got back from open gym last night.  Our friend liked it, too.