Or lunch!  I used to go to a restaurant here in Reno that served a wonderful mixed vegetable dish with a cheese sauce for brunch and I just loved it.  Add bacon and it was all you could want for breakfast or lunch.    Following a visit to the local Farmer’s Market, I came home with fresh zucchini and scalloped summer squash and I kept thinking about that great steamed vegetable dish.  So I decided to try a low carb version of it and add sausage to it.

A bratwurst, either pork or chicken, would work well with this recipe.  Just be sure to check the carb count on the links to try to get around 1 net carb for a link.   We are talking the 4 or 5 links to a pound variety, not the little breakfast sausages.  Some of the fancier sausages are wonderful and have great additions to them but run the carbs up to 4 or 5 nc per sausage and unless you have a lot to spend on this meal, it could be more than you want.  An alternative is to buy bulk sausage with no added ingredients and make mini-sausage balls to add to the dish or fry up some bacon and add that.

For a nice vegetarian dish, simply omit the sausages.

Mixed Vegetables with Sausage Au Gratin

1 cup Broccoli, fresh
1 cup Cauliflower, fresh
1 cup Summer Squash
1 cup Zucchini, sliced
6 Brussels sprouts, fresh, cut in half
1 cup kohlrabi, diced
3/4 cup Turnips, about 1 medium
2 tablespoons Carbquick or other low carb flour
3/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream or Unsweetened Almond Milk
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons Butter
1 /2 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1 oz. Dubliner Irish Cheese
1 tablespoon Dried Parsley
1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 teaspoon Seasoning Salt
2 links Chicken or Pork Sausages, sliced (look for 0 or 1 carb per serving)

Trim and cut vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Steam kohlrabi and turnips in a steamer until almost fork tender or in the microwave, covered, for about 5 minutes. Steam the rest of the vegetables for about four minutes, then combine with the kohlrabi and turnips and steam (microwave) another three minutes. Test that they are fork tender. If not, steam a little longer.

In a sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat and add the low carb flour, stirring to make a paste. Add the cream and seasonings and cook while stirring until the mixture begins to thicken. Add the cheese and continue stirring until the cheese is completely melted. If the mixture gets to thick, add a little water to thin. Remove from heat.

In a small skillet, sauté the sausages until they are completely warmed and browned s bit.

Spoon a 1/4 of the vegetable mix into a bowl or on a plate, add 1/4 of the sausages and top with about 1/2 cup of cheese sauce. Sprinkle with a little pepper and serve.

Nutrition Info: 1 serving made with cream
Calories: 490 Fat: 39.6 g Net Carbs: 9.5 g Protein: 22.8 g

Nutrition Info: 1 serving made with Unsweetened Almond Milk
Calories: 348 Fat: 23.8 g Net Carbs: 8.7 g Protein: 22.5 g