Easy Tomato-Sausage Skillet

A Quick, Healthy And Delicious Meal

Aug 2, 2009 Marcelle Greene Edins

Fresh tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, and smoked sausage sauteed together and served over a bed of rice. This savory dish will be a family favorite.

The modern family is a busy family, and very often there's not much time to prepare fresh meals. Fast food, sandwiches, and processed boxed meals are usually high in saturated fat and low in nutritional value, yet they make regular appearances on dinner tables everywhere. With just a little extra preparation, organization and grocery shopping, healthy, home-cooked dinners are possible, even in today's busy households. .

Tomatoes are the base of this fresh, and simple dish and they are chock-full of health protecting vitamins and antioxidants. Tomatoes are rich in vitamins C, A, K, B6, potassium, niacin, riboflavin and lycopene. In fact, one medium tomato provides 50 percent of the daily recommended intake of vitamin C.

Perhaps the most important nutrient tomatoes provide is the antioxidant lycopene. Lycopene has been proven in scientific studies to help prevent several types of cancer and heart disease. A diet rich with this antioxidant has been shown to reduce the incidence of colon, stomach, breast, and lung cancers.

Lycopene is the natural pigment that gives tomatoes their red coloring, so tomatoes that are a deeper shade of red contain more nutrients. Lycopene is not naturally produced in the human body and it can only be acquired by eating fruits and vegetables that contain it. It has also been proven that cooking tomatoes increases the amount of nutritional compounds that are released by them. This means that cooked tomatoes may have a slight nutritional edge over raw tomatoes.

Here is a recipe for a quick meal that will leave a bustling brood satisfied and stuffed with healthier fare than a cheeseburger or take-out pizza. Another perk to this simple recipe is that dinner will be ready to serve in just about 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 (14 oz.) package of smoked turkey sausage
  • 2 green bell peppers
  • 4 medium tomatoes
  • 1 large onion
  • 2 tsp. paprika
  • cooked rice

Directions:

  1. Slice the sausage links into 2 inch long sticks. Cut them so that they are about 1/4 inch thick.
  2. Cut the bell peppers in halves, then seed and clean the halves. Cut the peppers lengthwise into thin slices.
  3. Core the tomatoes and cut them into 1/2 inch thick slices.
  4. Cut the onion into slices.
  5. Pour the olive oil into a large, hot skillet. Next, add the sausage along with the onion. Saute for about 2 minutes or until onions begin to soften.
  6. Place the tomatoes, bell peppers, and paprika in the skillet. Stir and toss the vegetables in the skillet over high heat until the vegetables are soft.
  7. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes.
  8. Add salt and pepper, if desired.
  9. Place a serving of cooked rice on a dinner plate and top the rice with the tomato-sausage mixture.

This recipe will make about 4 servings.

The copyright of the article Easy Tomato-Sausage Skillet in Healthy Cooking is owned by Marcelle Greene Edins. Permission to republish Easy Tomato-Sausage Skillet in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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Fresh Tomatoes
    
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