Sausage and Kale Pasta: The fun of motherhood

I read somewhere once that the odd years are actually much harder to deal with in children than the even years...meaning that a 3 year old is harder than a 2 year old, a 5 year old is harder than a 6 year old and so on and so forth.  The other day, after a particularly spirit-breaking, back-breaking, soul-wrenching day, I realized that I had a thunderous 3 year old, a furious 5 year old, and a sassy 7 year old.  The odd numbers were stacked up against me it seemed, and as a completely fatigued almost 40 year old, things weren't looking too good.

The days that followed were also rough and I found myself lying face down in the carpet, playing dead, in hopes that Son and Daughters would completely ignore me and leave me alone.  Rather, they saw my weakness and began attacking me in various ways such as, "MOMMY WHERE ARE YOU?" and "MOMMY I'm done!!  I'll wipe myself!" (3 year old saying this...not good) or "MOMMY, I want the scissors" and it seemed that playing possum really wasn't going to solve anything.

So I began to pray in earnest, for some light at the end of this crazy road called motherhood, that I could survive these crazy odd years, and that somehow find some fun...or at least my own sense of what is fun.  And I got some thankfully.  Suddenly what was irking me and making insane, starting amusing me.  Even the bickering between Son and Daughter #2 (she's an instigator) had me laughing because the phrases that they threw back at forth were so funny.

"No, you be the doggy."

"I don't want to be a doggy.  I want to be a daddy."

"You can't be a daddy.  You're too short."

"I'm not short. I'm big.  BIIIIIIIIIIIIIG.  MOMMY!  I'm not SHORT!  I'm BIG!!"

I could only laugh.

Even this evening, as I served kale in pasta to Son and Daughters for the first time, we had a fun meal filled with interesting conversation and interesting antics as the Children navigated the new dish.  They were really rather wonderful as they are used to my continual experiments with random food and anything pasta, to them, is generally a winner.  They took one look, asked what it was and I explained that it was kale and sausage pasta.  I asked Daughters to compare the difference between the creamy version and the not creamy version, and the two of them dug in with relish. The two girls compared notes, asking each other which one they liked better, and then gave their feedback to me.  (Creamy)  I turned to see Son shoveling the pasta into his mouth as quickly as possible, until he came to a piece of kale that was too big for him.

Daughters ate more than their fair share, and I have to say that both versions - creamy and not, are really delicious, hearty and comforting.  The evening ended with Son wrapping up all the bigger chunks of kale (he liked the smaller pieces) in a napkin, and sticking the entire napkin with pieces of kale in it into the refrigerator. I said, "Aren't you going to eat that?"

"I will mom. When it's really really cold.  Tomorrow."  I threw the napkin away.  Even that was funny to me.

Now I'm just hoping that the fun lasts.

The pasta is fairly flexible in that it can be creamy or not, and can use spicy Italian or sweet Italian sausages.  I used the spicy and the spiciness was quite diluted by the time we had the pasta, kale and broth added to the mix.  Daughter #1 who is extremely spicy adverse, happily ate the pasta while drinking a large cup of water.  Spicy loving Son didn't have a problem at all, and announced, "I like spicy."

Sausage and Kale Pasta
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
4 cups chopped kale (washed, drained, thick stems removed, and cut into pieces) (or a 10 oz bag of prepared kale from Trader Joes or elsewhere)
1 lb pasta, smaller shape (shells, penne, macaroni, rigatoni, wheels)
1 lb Italian sausage spicy or sweet, casings removed (this is not the precooked sausage - this is the raw kind)
½ cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 to 7 garlic cloves, minced or put through a garlic press
½ cup chicken stock
⅓ cup of cream (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add kale and blanch for about 4 minutes. Scoop kale out with a spoon and drain, and leaving water boiling in pot , so that you can cook pasta next. Set kale aside.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

In a heavy saucepan or the same pot you cooked pasta in, add olive oil, chopped onion and sausage to pot and stir, breaking up the sausage with the back of the spoon. Cook until sausage is fully cooked and slightly golden brown. Add chopped garlic and kale, and cook together, mixing until everything is well incorporated and kale has become more soft and pliable, about 2 minutes. Add chicken stock, and cook for an additional 1 minute. Add pasta and toss all together. Finish with cream (optional) and season with salt and pepper.

Serve, topped with your choice of cheese.

Printable recipe