ITALIAN SAUSAGE WITH ONIONS, PEPPERS, TOMATO SAUCE AND CHEESE

ITALIAN SAUSAGE WITH ONIONS, PEPPERS, TOMATO SAUCE AND CHEESE
19 1/2 ounces Italian sausage links, about 5 links
2 tablespoons oil
1 large green pepper
1 large red pepper
1 large onion, 5 1/4 ounces
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 cup spaghetti sauce
4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded, 1 cup

Heat the oil in a large skillet on medium heat and brown the sausages. Meanwhile, cut the peppers and onion into thick slices or chunks. When the sausage is about half done, add the peppers, onions and garlic. Cook until the sausage is done and vegetables are tender-crisp. Remove and slice the sausages diagonally into bite-size pieces and return to the skillet. Stir in the spaghetti sauce; cover the pan and simmer 5 minutes to heat the sauce. Sprinkle with the cheese, turn off the heat and cover the pan to melt the cheese.

Makes 4-5 servings
Freezing not recommended

Per 1/4 Recipe: 682 Calories; 58g Fat; 28g Protein; 11g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 9g Net Carbs
Per 1/5 Recipe: 546 Calories; 47g Fat; 22g Protein; 9g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 7g Net Carbs

This is a slight variation of a recipe from Dana Carpender's "15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes", page 140. I used a green and a red bell pepper for more color and decided that 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce was plenty and would cut the carbs a bit. Dana calls for 1/4 cup of oil for cooking the sausages, but there was so much that it ended up all over my kitchen and the links were swimming in oil. I drained off most of it and will use just 2 tablespoons next time as I've listed in the ingredients. Dana's version also says to slice the sausages before browning them, but when you do that, they burst out of their casings. They hold together better if you brown them whole and slice them later. The flavor of this dish is wonderful, but I'd like to find a way to make it so that there won't be such a huge mess to clean up from the splattering oil. I may try cooking the sausages on the outdoor grill, cook the vegetables and sauce separately on the stove and combine them at the end along with the cheese.

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