I have a gigantic confession – the recipes have been slim around here because I had this whole mental fizzle out of what to make. Maybe it was writing two books in two years or maybe it was shooting so many weddings last year? Either way my creative juices didn’t expand beyond frozen Gluten Free pizza {not paleo, but so worth it}, stir fries, frozen veggies + scrambled eggs and the occasional tomato sauce + zucchini noodles kind of thing.
Then all of a sudden BOOM creative mojo .Everywhere. Not even joking, I see food and I’m all ohhh recipe with that and I want to make this and let’s try out this with this instead. So I’ve been trying out new things and thinking up recipes {yes, I daydream about things like bacon cupcakes and curry veggies … totally normal 😉 } Translation: You guys are about to be inundated with yummy food!
And because it’s so Summer right now I figured we’d kick off this food-lovers-fest with a Summer Sausage Mix! And you’ll actually notice in a lot of upcoming recipes that I’m using sausage because for me currently to get clean, no casing chicken sausages is cheaper than a pound of ground beef – by $2-3/lb some weeks! And these are fully cooked sausages so you basically just cook them until heated through or they get a little crispy.
Cheaper + easier… Why would you say no? Exactly! Plus a lot times you can find these pre-seasoned {the ones I used in this recipe was a mild Italian Sausage} and that means more flavor without extra work. Repeat: More flavor, less work, less ingredients, less money. W.I.N.
And the fresh veggies happened because it’s Summer so half of you guys have gardens over flowing with delicious veggies and the other half have access to fresh veggies for a really good price! And PLEASE don’t feel like you have to use the veggies I used. Use whatever you have on hand / on sale / is yummy at this moment in time! If you hate tomatoes ditch them and add another summer veggie or add extra avocado {maybe do that anyways?}. Just remember: this is a dish with little extra flavor additives like herbs so make sure your veggies are fresh and yummy. If nothing looks good this week it’s really worth it to hold off on making this till next week!
We eat this as a dinner or lunch and it’s really, really pretty so if you have some special place to go or you want to smile at the ridiculously bright colors make this. And yes, it has my favorite hot/cold combo {hot sausages, cold veggie salad}. I can’t even describe how good that is. It melts the avocado just a little so it almost coats the sausages but the veggies still stay crunchy and fresh. So.Good.
As a random P.S. I know I cooked the sausage in a pan on the stove, but if you’re a grill master you can totally cook the sausages whole on the grill and slice them up after, then toss with the veggies!
Also: leftovers. Please make enough for those because it’s just that good! Oh and if you’re a rice eater this is just wow with a little rice underneath it so it catches all the extra juice and gives even more of that hot/cold combo that I’m obsessed with! I also think this would be good with mashed sweet potatoes in place of the above mentioned rice! So play around with it!
Summer Sausage Mix | Egg Free, Dairy Free
Prep Time: 15 mins- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 25 mins
Yield: 2-4 people
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Pin RecipeIngredients
Veggie Mix
- 1/2 large red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2-1 english cucumber, washed and cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 yellow pepper, cleaned and cut into bite sized pieces
- 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, washed and cut in half
- 1 avocado, diced
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Olive oil
- Salt + pepper
Sausage
- Fat of Choice
- 16 oz of your favorite sausages, cut into bite sized pieces
- 2 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- Salt + pepper
Instructions
Veggies
- In a large mixing bowl, add all your veggies, 1/2 of a lemon’s juice and drizzle of olive oil {to taste} and a small sprinkling of salt + pepper.
- Taste test and add more lemon juice as needed { I generally need the full lemon!}
- Store in fridge while you cook the sausages
Sausage
- Add your fat of choice into a pan over medium heat.
- Add your sausage, cumin, garlic powder, salt + pepper, and mix it around to coat all the sausages in the cumin + garlic powder.
- Cook until your sausages are done to your liking, making sure to stir around the sausage as it cooks every few minutes so it doesn’t burn!
Finish
- Mix Sausages and veggies together, taste test to see if it needs more Salt + pepper or olive oil / lemon juice.
- Serve immediately.
That’s it! You’re done!
Happy Eating!
xo
Liz-
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