Italian Sausage with Mashed Pumpkin

Another brilliant Karen original here: Italian Sausage with Mashed Pumpkin.    I was reading a cookbook (yeah, that's the cool stuff I do in my free time, jealous much?) while "watching" the Bears game with John and saw a great-looking Rachael Ray recipe for squash-stuffed raviolis with italian sausage.  Then I had a brainstorm similar to the Asian-style meatball soup of leaving off the carb portion of the pasta.  Meanwhile, I had several pumpkins that Dad and Kelly gave me and I am going to use.  Pumpkins are usually very cheap or even free after November 1st.  A winner in my book: cheap, healthy, grain-free, low carb, easy.  Try it today.

The pumpkin was roasted with the Braised Lamb Shanks last Sunday, so it was cooked completely ahead of time.  I added butter, sea salt,  fresh sage from the garden, and parmesan cheese and then pureed it to make it the texture of mashed potatoes.  Then browned our favorite Italian Sausage from the farmer's market and served it over top.  Dead easy.