Summer church carnivals bring the old familiar tastes of sausage, pepper and onion subs.

Unfortunately, there are very few diets that will let you eat sausage on Italian bread.

Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to healthily cook and eat peppers and onions. They are fabulous for you; packed with vitamins, and they fill you up without making you feel disgusting afterward.

Shake and stir, baby!

Shake and stir, baby!

Dish #5 — Colorful Peppers and Onions

20 minutes — About $5

You can find frozen, sliced, bagged peppers in your grocer’s frozen foods section.

If you’re a wuss.

Young people seem petrified of cutting food, and bell-shaped peppers seem to especially puzzle our Gen-Y minds.

Wash the peppers first. Turn one on its side and slice the each side off. Then slice the bottom off. Throw out the guys/center/stem. Congrats. You just sliced a pepper, and you didn’t even kill yourself. Some people try to cut out the middle and pull out the stem. Just do it this way.

Orange peppers are delicious. Yes, you CAN slice peppers easily and without bodily injury.

Orange peppers are delicious. Yes, you CAN slice peppers easily and without bodily injury.

Slice your quarters into 1/3″ thick slices. You can make them thicker if you want, depending on your tastes. Throw all your slices into a plastic container.

To slice an onion, place it on a flat cutting board and slice off the top and the bottom. Then carefully make a slit down the onion from top to bottom, cutting the top layer or two only. Then you should be able to easily peel off those top layers. Then just cut the rest into 1/2″ slices as if you were cutting an orange. Make sure you thoroughly separate all the layers and pieces, and throw the onion bits into the container with the peppers.

Now, spice them. Spice them, dammit!

Add some ground black pepper, some cayenne (red) pepper, a little Adobo spice (or salt and garlic powder will do). Don’t overdo it on the salty stuff! Too much pepper you can live with, but do you know what you get when you put too much salt on these things? French fries!

Shake the container to mix everything up.

Put the cover on first.

Add a solid second worth of drizzle of olive oil to a big, deep frying pan and fire up the stove to medium-high. Once it gets hot, throw all your spiced veggies in and continuously stir until cooked, about 7-10 minutes.

These go great with Virtually Fat Free Chicken Tenders! Plus, they’re fat-free except for the olive oil you used to cook them. They also dip great in BBQ sauce.

About The Author

John Guilfoil is the editor-in-chief of Blast: Boston's Online Magazine and the Blast Magazine Network. He can be reached at [email protected]. Tweet @johnguilfoil.

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