Chicken sausage and pesto pasta makes for a tasty carbohydrate and protein balanced meal.

Using 5 chicken chipolatas in this dish provides 25g of lean protein and only 4g of (protein) fat, before adding the pesto and light cream cheese.

My teen eats this as his lunch before a long training session.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups dried pasta (fusilli or penne work well)
• 5 chicken chipolatas
• salt & pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons Pesto (out of the jar is fine)
• 4 heaped tablespoons light cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons pasta water

Method

Boil your water and cook pasta according to packet instructions.

While pasta is cooking, grill the sausages or pan-fry with a light olive oil spray.

Slice the sausages into chunks or discs.

Reserve 2 tablespoons of pasta water to use in your sauce, drain the rest of the water from your pasta and in a bowl mix the drained pasta with the sausage, pesto, pasta water and cream cheese. Season to taste with salt & pepper.

Tip: This is best eaten immediately. If you are cooking in advance and your teen is warming this up after returning from training late at night, add milk to loosen everything when you’re warming up.