Sausage and Peppers

Well, school starts in a week. Good-bye, summer! Good-bye sleep, relaxation, and quiet. Hello, 34 1st graders. I am excited for the year. The kids are super cute and I know we will have a nice year together learning from one another. I'm excited to try out new ideas and get to know another group of kids.

Now that school will be starting, you will get a real taste of my busy, after school meals. I always make sure I make enough so I have leftovers to take to school. I am definitely that staff member who brings leftovers every day and "stinks" up the teacher lounge since my grade band eats lunch first at school. #sorrynotsorry

I also need to do a better job with two things this year: snacks and drinking water. During the day, I get so busy at school that I forget to drink enough water. It is also hard to drink a lot of water when you can't really leave a classroom of 34 students to go to the bathroom. I have to train my body to a pretty specific routine. I also find myself not packing filling snacks. I eat lunch at 11 and usually don't leave school until between 5:30 and 6:00. By the time I eat, I am pretty hungry. I need to make sure I take protein rich snacks to school to curve the "hangry" evening drive home through Chicago. Any favorites or suggestions you want to pass along? Feel free to comment!

Ok, enough with going back to school-dinnertime!

Yesterday I experimented with making chickpea sausage. I found a recipe online and it turned out pretty well. The sausage had vital wheat gluten to bind the sausage and I don't think I steamed them long enough, but it all worked out.

Here is what it looked like before putting it in a pot to steam for 2 1/2 hours wrapped in foil.

I was able to make 3 logs out of the mixture. I used one tonight, plan to use another later this week, and will freeze one (I assume it will freeze).

I decided to make a cajun'ish inspired dinner tonight with peppers, spices, onions, a tomato sauce, served over tri-colored quinoa. I then made some yummy kale chips as well. I am not including quinoa cooking instructions. Let's start with the kale chips

Ingredients for kale chips:

Washed kale leaves with the stem cut out

Salt to taste

Vegan parm or NOOCH to taste

EVOO

Preparation:

1. Pat dry the kale leaves and place on a baking sheet and preheat the oven to 350

2. Drizzle with enough EVOO to coat all the leaves

3. Arrange kale into single layer

4. Sprinkle on salt

5. Place in the oven for 10 minutes (take out if they begin to brown too much

6. When 10 minutes is up, sprinkle on vegan parm or NOOCH

7. Place back in the oven for 2-5 more minutes

8. Cool and serve

Sausage and Peppers

Ingredients-sausage and peppers

Vegan sausage

1 green pepper-cut into strips

1 red pepper-cut into strips

1/2 large onion or 1 small onion cut into rings

EVOO spray for sausage

2 tablespoons EVOO for veggies

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 can of diced tomatoes

Preparation sausage: 

1. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat with EVOO spray  

They turned out pretty well!

2. Cut sausage on a  diagonal and place in skillet

3. Cook until brown on one side and flip

4. When done, set to the side to add at the very end

Preparation Veggies: (I used the same skillet as I did for the sausage)

1. Heat EVOO over medium to medium high heat

2. Add the onions and cook until they begin to get color

3. Add the peppers

4. Sauté until they begin to brown and caramelize a bit

I love the colors!

Preparation for the Sauce:

 

1. Add the diced tomatoes to a small saucepan

2. Add the spices

3. Bring to a simmer

Final Assembly

Add the sauce to the peppers and onions along with the sausage and stir to mix everything. 

Put the quinoa on the bottom and place mixture on top

You could sub the quinoa for rice or just have the peppers and sausage. You could even put this into a sandwich!

There it is-sausage and peppers! If you have other suggestions of how to use the sausage let me know in the comment section!

Happy Cooking!