Simple Skillet Dinners - Quick, Easy, and Adaptable

One of the things I love best about summertime is the abundance of fresh, locally-grown vegetables. With a sense of adventure and access to a variety of seasonings, you can toss pretty much anything in a skillet and come up with a dinner that's healthy, tasty, colourful, and doesn't break the bank.

I've always just called this one "Sausages and Peppers", because I'm a fan of names that don't hide what something is. The first time I made it was in early summer so asparagus was everywhere. Other times I've used other vegetables, but the constant is a variety of colours and some smoked sausage (although the types used vary depending on what I have).

This is what went into the pan on the most recent occasion I made my sausages and peppers:

I typically start with some extra-virgin olive oil in my biggest skillet with a lid, then add onions and garlic - ideally Vidalia onions, but since they're only available for a short time any kind of onion will do. I've used sweet, white, yellow, scallion, and red onion depending on what I have.

Once the onions are starting to turn translucent, I'll add whatever mixture of bell peppers I have. This time I hit a sale on red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, so those are the colours I used. As I said, the first time I made it asparagus was in season so I used that, but I've also added a green pepper on occasion for a better colour mix, or sometimes broccoli or green beans.

Once the peppers are starting to soften, I add the sausage. I buy the pre-cooked sausage so it only needs to heat through, so if you're using some that isn't ready to eat you should probably cook it before you add it for food safety. As I mentioned above, this last time I didn't have any green pepper and asparagus was out of season, so lacking anything green I added some mushrooms to try to break up the onslaught of bright, warm colours.

It kind of worked, but having something green is better. Having an attractive mix of colours on your plate is not only better visually, but it's actually a good rule of thumb when trying to eat healthy. Mixing up naturally-coloured foods (as opposed to dyed foods) helps ensure you're getting the proper mix of vitamins and minerals necessary. Whenever I'm stuck with a mixture like this, I make sure to serve a side dish that helps contrast the main dish.

For instance, with this I would serve a tossed salad, some spinach, peas, Brussels sprouts, zucchini, cucumber salad, or an olive salad, with maybe some cottage cheese to round it out. It all depends on what you have in the house and what you prefer. Below is the recipe as originally written the first time I made it, but obviously it's not meant to be followed to the letter...adapt as necessary to suit your taste or availability of ingredients.

Sausages and Peppers

Serves 6-8

1 tablespoon oil (olive oil)

1 cup Vidalia onion (chopped)

4 garlic cloves (minced)

1/2 pound asparagus (cut into 1-inch lengths)

1 cup red bell pepper (seeded and chopped)

1 cup orange bell pepper (seeded and chopped)

1 cup yellow bell pepper (seeded and chopped)

1 pound smoked sausage (sliced)

1 tablespoon orange and lemon pepper seasoning blend (Olde Thompson)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Step 1

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat; add onion and asparagus and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes.

Step 2

Add remaining vegetables to skillet and cook, covered, 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

Step 3

Add sausage and seasonings; cover and cook an additional 5-10 minutes, until vegetables are crisp-tender and sausage is heated through.

Serving Size: 1 (213 g)

Calories 301.9

Total Fat - 24.4 g

Saturated Fat - 7.8 g

Cholesterol - 43.9 mg

Sodium - 699.7 mg

Total Carbohydrate - 10.4 g

Dietary Fiber - 3.6 g

Sugars - 3.2 g

Protein - 11.4 g