Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Italian Sausage and Pepper Supper & a Book Review



Clearly, the “Sheet Pan Meal” train passed me by when it first came to town, because what I thought new and innovative, apparently others have been doing and enjoying for quite some time. Huh. Well, at least I'm on board now, and I have to tell you that I am loving the ride.
My first acquaintance with this flavorful and easy way of cooking was by way of Camilla Saulsbury's book 200 Sheet Pan Meals. It features recipes that will take you from morning (Brown Sugar Vanilla Baked Oatmeal) to night (Weeknight Chicken & Stuffing), satisfy your every craving (Berries & Cream Pavlova), provide you with healthy, balanced meals, and make both preparation and cleanup a breeze. Wow! 
Honestly, culinary skeptic that I am, I thought this was too good to be true. Turns out, I was wrong. Every recipe that I have tried has been easy to prepare, made with ingredients that I have on hand, and has been amazingly good. And what a joy is it to crumple up the foil from the pan and toss it away, it's almost sinful.
Thus far I have tried the BBQ chicken with potato salad, Punjabi chicken (LOVE the Punjabi Chicken), and Italian Sausage and Pepper Supper. In each case I halved the quantity to serve just one or two. Mr. O-P, who turned his nose up at a baked Italian sausage meal, found himself staring longingly at my dinner while he poked at his microwaved chicken pot pie.
I have more time (read: spend an obscene amount of time) cooking than most people, so am generally not pressed, but for those of you with little time to prepare a good meal, this book is the answer to your prayers.
One caveat is that preparation can take longer than you may imagine because there can be a good bit of chopping involved. Fortunately, prep work can be done ahead of time, with the various components stored in plastic bags or containers to be used when you are ready. One more thing to consider is that your sheet pan meal is only going to be as good as your ingredients. I buy the best sausage that I can find from my favorite Italian market, and used organic bell peppers and Gemstone Potatoes from Melissa’s Produce.

In this day of fast food dinners, Camilla Sailsbury has turned fast food into healthy food and cleverly shown us how.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This post is linked to:
Wow Us Wednesday
Work It Wednesday

2 comments:

~~louise~~ said...

Lol, Pattie...I've been known to line with foil and always feel guilty when it comes time to toss it, lol...However, the clean-up is soooooooooooo worth it!!! (I make up for it in small ways:)

This book sounds right up my alley especially these days when I find I would much rather be outside "playing" than celaning up!

Everything sounds so good but, sausage and peppers, well, they are the best especially when very little clean-up is involved.

Thanks for sharing, Pattie and thanks for linking up to Cookbook Wednesday...

Maria said...

Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe of sausage and peppers at dream create and inspire
Maria