I Love Food

Maybe I should have named my blog "Food Addict" or something like that. I am a fan of food. I love to eat, read about it, cook it, you name it. However, I don't want to weigh 500 lbs....so I have to watch what I eat. I also have a pancreas that does not share my love of food and gets cranky from time to time and shuts down. I knew I had gained some weight back, and I promised my doctor I would take care of it. So here it is...time to take care of it. Ugh :)

I'm utilizing the South Beach diet to lose weight. I gave up carbs for Lent last Easter and it really did make a difference. I don't adhere to every rule, but I do cut out every starch. No pasta, bread, rice, potatoes or corn. I'm not hardcore enough to cut out sugar, because that would eliminate most coffee creamers. I don't have a sweet tooth, so I'm not missing ice cream and cake. I know that there is sugar in ketchup, but I'm not a big fan of it, and I know it's in salad dressings and BBQ sauces. I found a yogurt based dressing at the store and I'm going to try it. It is low in carbs and sugar. I'll deal with the BBQ sauce issue when I have to. I'm not going to give up onions because they're higher on the glycemic index than other veggies. I love onions and need them to make up for what I'm NOT getting to eat that's really, really bad! No need in getting stressed out about it if I don't have to!

So, last night I made Italian sausages with onions and peppers outside in my dutch oven. They came out great and I'd like to share the recipe. The only thing I'm not great about is counting and keeping up with the amount of charcoal bricks I'm using. I basically just wing it and go by how much of the bag I used. If I don't have a recipe to follow that tells me exactly how many bricks to use, I'm left to my own devices and I make do the best I can.

Cadillac Cowgirl Italian Sausages and Peppers

1 package Italian Sausages (I used Johnsonville and there are 5 in a package)
2 large sweet onions, sliced
3 bell peppers, any color, sliced
16 oz dark beer
Salt, pepper and garlic powder
1/2 bag of instant light charcoal bricks

Get the charcoal going; they're ready when they turn grayish white, but you don't want them to be complete ash. Meanwhile, prick holes in the sausages and combine them, along with the onions, peppers and beer, in a large baking dish. Sprinkle a little bit of salt, pepper and garlic powder over the mixture, stir and allow to sit while the charcoal heats up. Once the charcoal is ready, move about half of them underneath the dutch oven and allow it to heat up. (I think I use a 12 or 14 inch dutch oven. It has the three legs on it. Not real legs, you know what I mean!) Once it's hot, take the sausages out of the mixture and brown them on both sides for about 5 minutes. Once they are brown, add the beer and veggie mix, stir and put the lid on. Cover the lid with about 15 bricks and put any extra ones underneath if you have some room. You basically want to make sure you've got enough under the dutch oven to keep a good simmer. Check every 15 minutes to make sure you've still got a simmer and adjust if necessary. Cook the sausages and peppers for an hour and fifteen minutes or until the sausages are cooked through. Serve with Parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top.

I know that my directions are not by the book, but this method always works for me and I have yet to give anyone food poisoning!!! I'm making seared chicken breasts with a roasted red pepper sauce this evening and serving them with asparagus and a salad. I'll share that adventure tomorrow. At least I'm cooking them inside on the stove!

I hope everyone has made it home from the Great Pepper's Meeting and is decompressing from that shindig. We've got the State Fair cook off coming up this Sunday as well as Oktoberfest for Paige's school on Saturday. I don't think there are any cook offs on our radar for the following weekend, but we'll be at the Irving VFW October 2nd to kick off the chili year. Have a fantastic day!

Kelly