Andouille and arugula penne pasta

I like saying arugula; it's just a funny word. Thankfully it's also a nice leafy green that has a tad of spice to it, which adds color and flavor to this tangy Italian dish that we recently discovered and added to our list of favorites. I found the original recipe, which calls for chicken andouille sausage, on allrecipes.com, but following is my own version of this yummy Mediterranean meal.

• 8 oz. penne pasta (we use Meijer brand whole wheat organic)
• 4 links spicy chicken andouille sausage (we used organic spinach chicken sausage from Arbor Farms)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic , minced
• 1/3 cup pesto (I make this from scratch with organic Basil, parsley, olive oil, pine nuts, Parmesan and Romano)
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 15 oz. cannellini beans, undrained (or aobut 1 cup beans rehydrated)
• 3 cups arugula leaves, torn
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• salt & pepper to taste
• 4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled

Prepare 8oz of penne pasta as directed by package

Meanwhile, in a heavy skillet over medium heat cook 4 links of chicken sausage. Remove from heat and allow to cool, then slice into bite sized pieces. (In our case the sausages were actually pre-cooked, so we skipped this step completely and just sliced the sausages and added them with the garlic in the next step)

After removing the sausage add 1-2T oil to the pan as necessary and cook garlic until browned (remember this is also where we added our pre-cooked sausages). Add sausage back in (if not already done so) along with pesto and white wine and cook until heated.  Add cannellini beans and arugula. Cook and stir until heated through and arugula is wilted. Just before serving add tomatoes and stir until warmed, then toss with pasta and top with goat cheese to serve. Yum!