Pasta with Spinach and Beans

This is one of those vague recipes that I adapted from a Cooking light recipe. The original called for cavatappi pasta which is great but I use Penne most of the time since it's what I have on hand. It also called for Asiago cheese which I never have and have only used Parmesan. I love the Andouille chicken sausage that is sold at Costco. I add it in this recipe sometimes and it is fantastic. The great thing about this recipe is that it's fast, filling and it's so easy to substitute or swap ingredients. I have used great northern beans as a substitute for cannellini beans but they are rather soft and mushy so I prefer the cannellini beans.

Ingredients

6-8  cups  coarsely chopped spinach leaves

8 oz. pasta (cavatappi, spiral, penne)

2  tablespoons  olive oil

1/4  teaspoon  salt

1/4  teaspoon  pepper

2  garlic cloves, crushed

1  (19-ounce) can cannellini beans (also called white kidney beans), rinsed and drained

1/2  cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions

Cook pasta as directed. Place spinach in large bowl. In small bowl combine oil, salt,  pepper and garlic. Drain pasta and combine with spinach. Add beans, oil mixture and cheese to pasta and toss.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, and toss well. Sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper, if desired.