A one-pan, stovetop recipe for dinner....

My sister-in-law Carol is a great cook. Over the years, I've gotten some of my best family recipes from her (think pumpkin cookies and tagliatelle :-) This is one of our favorites and I especially like that it's not only inexpensive to make, it's easy to prepare. Of course it's good year round, but it's nice in the summer because you don't have to turn on the oven.

SAUSAGE, PEPPERS AND POTATOES

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound sweet Italian sausage links*
2 large bell peppers, cut into large chunks
1 pound potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 1/2 cups water

In a 12-inch skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat and brown the sausage. Remove sausage, cut into 1-inch pieces and set aside; leave drippings in the skillet.

Add bell peppers to pan and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes. Add potatoes and onion soup mix blended with water. Bring to a boil over high heat.

Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Return sausage to skillet, cover and simmer an additional 5 minutes or until sausage is done and potatoes are tender.

Serves: 4

*The recipe calls for sweet Italian sausage, but I think it's just as good with German sausage.


Here's what you need. This is pretty much the amounts called for in the recipe but you'll notice when you see my photos, I doubled the recipe. I like leftovers. :-)


I like this brand, especially when I catch it on sale. I like to stock up when it's on sale - it freezes well.


It really takes very little vegetable oil because the sausage is going to produce grease as it browns.


I brown it about like this and then flip it over and brown the other side. Be careful. You're cooking over medium-high heat and this pops and sizzles. Actually, to avoid a big mess, I cover it loosely with a lid while it's browning.


While the sausage is browning, prepare the potatoes and bell peppers. You can cut these any size you like, but the size of the potatoes will determine how long they have to cook. I like them cut in half so I cook them a little longer. (I also really like bell peppers, so I tripled those. :-)


Remove the sausage to drain on paper towels.


Add the bell peppers to the skillet. Those are my stir-fry paddles. They're perfect for tossing these peppers around while they cook.


You can cut the sausage into whatever size pieces you like. I usually cut each link into three pieces but you may want to cut them smaller.



Stir-fry the peppers until they look about like this. Remember, these are going to continue to cook when you add the onion soup mix and potatoes, so be careful not to overcook them at this point or they'll be completely mushy.


Mix the onion soup mix with the water and add to the skillet and then add the potatoes. I season them a little with salt and pepper.


Cover the skillet, lower the heat and simmer for about ten minutes. Put the sausage back into the skillet, cover and continue to simmer until the potatoes are tender. By the time the potatoes are done, the sausage will be completely done too.


There you have it. A quick, easy stovetop meal. Leftovers are great from this dinner and what I really like is that I almost always have the simple ingredients in this dish on hand.

Enjoy! And if you try it, I'd love to know what you and your family thought.