Balsamic Brats and Peppers

This was today's lunch. It was so delish, I made extra as freezer meals. We stopped by Sam's Club on the way home from church. I know my kitchen is a wreck and will just be getting worse, but I trying to prepare as many meals as I can. I just couldn't help buying some things for some homecooked foods. These we will have in the freezer so John can take them to work and grill them up on the George grill there. I am guessing we could even grill them up when we take refuge from the construction in the bedrooms...as long as we take a grill in with us.

I also got some meats to cook in the crockpots. Those can travel to any room in the house, right? We are going to need some help from friends this week to empty all the damaged rooms. Furniture, wall decor--everything has to go. We are still not sure where it is going to go, but it can't stay here. Yikes! I am thinking I could feed my volunteer crew pretty easily with some barbecue pork. I can just set my crockpots up on the back patio and add buns and some salads from the deli for my friends. We can have pork and coleslaw. It has been raining here, so work may be delayed. But here's to hoping.

Back to this recipe. It is so easy and so delicious. I adore sauteed onions and peppers. They are a little carby, but if you are watching, throw some zucchini in there too and that will help. Today, I threw everything in the skillet because I only had the three of us to feed. No carby boys today. If I was adding them, I think I would serve these with some rice or on a crusty bread.

I used the long red peppers from Sam's Club. They are called Ancient Sweets. Odd name, and from Holland no less? Combined with Bratwurst, this really is an international dish. In my freezer packets, I also added a regular green bell pepper. The sausages are Zia brand. Only one carb per link, and they were really good. I would definitely buy them again. Of course, being at the wholesale club, I had to buy 5 pounds of them, so we will certainly be serving them again. With this hectic week, they are going into the freezer, but I am thinking an autumn inspired brats and cabbage dish will on the menu soon. My usual menu planning is difficult during construction.

I am going to include the instructions for the skillet dish, then the individual freezer packets.

Balsamic Brats and Peppers


5 bratwurst links
3 Ancient Sweet red peppers, or 1 regular red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup Asiago cheese 
Salt and pepper to taste


Chop vegetables into bite sized chunks. Cut sausages into 3/4 inch slices. Heat olive oil in skillet. Add garlic, sausage and vegetables. Saute until meat is cooked through. Season to taste. Sprinkle with grated Asiago cheese.


To make 4 freezer packets:
Dice 1 onion, 1 large green bell pepper and 3 Ancient Sweets red peppers (or 1 large red bell pepper)


Into a plastic sandwich bag, add
1 1/4 sliced bratwurst link
1/4 onion
1/4 green bell pepper
1/2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
a sprinkle of garlic powder


Layer in the meat and vegetables. Add garlic, oil and vinegar. Squish with fingers to coat everything in the bag. Freeze.





























I use the inexpensive fold over sandwich bags. Because these do not seal well, I put them inside a larger freezer bag. This keeps like food together, and saves money by using fewer of the costlier freezer bags. You can also seal them inside Foodsaver bags.