Pumpkin Sage Penne

adapted from Rachael Ray

gluten-free, cow dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free, sugar-free

I get it wrong a lot.  I screw up.  I stumble.  I make mistakes.  Today, after panicking that I’d made one too many, I remembered what Scott (official peacemaker of much more than my palate) always says.

“The greatest growth comes from failure.”

Then, there is no such thing as making too many mistakes, is there?  Unless you believe there’s such a thing as growing too much.  A mind that is too open.  A heart that is too big.

Many people give advice, hoping that other people will learn from their mistakes.  But it seems to me that’s never the case.  We don’t really learn from each other’s mistakes.  Maybe they make us cautious and wary, but we don’t learn from them.  We learn from our own.  We truly learn from our own alone.

So please don’t think I’m offering any advice, any words of wisdom whatsoever.  Just allow me to pencil-mark the wall where my head ends and my aura begins… I’ve had a bit of a growth spurt:

1. Figuring out priorities is a priority.  Um.. the priority before priorities.

2. If there is anything that I’m struggling with, there is most likely fear at the root of it.

3. Fear can destroy anything.

4. Love can build and rebuild anything.

5. I choose whether I wish to destroy or build.  I choose with every decision I make.

6. I will always make mistakes, but believing that any mistake is too big or too bad to fix is the only mistake that could actually hurt me.

:)

Pumpkin Sage Penne

1 lb gluten-free penne pasta (Tinkyada!)

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 med onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

1 can pumpkin (15 oz)

1/3 cup cashew cream (see this post for my recipe!)

1 lb homemade Italian turkey sausage (see this post for my recipe!)

1/4 tsp nutmeg

10 fresh sage leaves

3/4 cup grated locatelli cheese

salt and pepper, to taste

1) Boil pasta and set aside.

2) Brown sausage and set aside.

3) Brown onions and garlic in separate pan, cook till tender.

4) Add 1/2 cup of the chicken stock and the sausage.  Sauté for 2 minutes.

5) Next, add the rest of the chicken stock (1 more cup), cream, pumpkin, sage, nutmeg.  Bring to a boil and simmer until thick (about 5-10 minutes).

6) Add cheese, and salt and/or pepper if desired.

7) Toss with pasta.