Open Faced Sandwich with Italian Sausage and Mushrooms

Plan Z Phase: This is a Z3.5 (ZReboot 3.5) recipe. I don’t normally eat sandwiches but when I have an hankerin’ for one, this is a must.

Serving Size: Serves 4

Instructions:

  • 1 pound of bulk Italian sausage (I used the spicy version. If you can’t find bulk sausage just buy the sausages and cut the casing down the middle and slide the meat out.  Super easy)
  • 8 oz of lean ground beef
  • 1 Tbl of olive oil
  • 1 cup of chopped onion
  • 2 tsp of minced garlic.  (jar garlic will work but the fresh will be worth the extra work)
  • 16 oz of tomato sauce (no sugar)
  • 8 oz of sliced mushrooms
  • 1/2 red pepper, slices thin
  • 1 Tbl of butter
  • 1 tsp of dried Italian seasoning
  • 2 cups of shredded mozzarella
  • 4 tps of grated or shredded parmesan
  • 4 pieces of bread*
  • butter to spread

Instructions:

In a large sauté pan add the olive oil. Begin heating, and then add the sausage and ground beef. Begin to chop it into bite-sized pieces with your spatula while it cooks on medium high.

In another sauté pan add the butter. Begin melting it on medium high and add the mushrooms and peppers. Cook the mushrooms until the edges begin to brown. Just stir periodically.

Back to the meat. When it’s half cooked through add the onions and garlic to the pan. Continue to break the meat up and cook the onions and garlic with the sausage mixture. When there is no pink remaining in the meat add your tomato sauce and the cooked mushrooms and peppers as well as the Italian blend.

This will look like chunky spaghetti sauce. Continue to let it bubble on medium until the sauce thickens and some of the moisture is cooked off. This won’t take more than 10 minutes or so.

You are ready for assembly.

Take your bread out and toast it. Spread both sides of the bread with a bit of butter. That will cut down the glycemic uptake and  add more BIG YUM factor.

Place the toast on a cookie sheet and put a scoop of the meat sauce on top. Top that with mozzarella and the Parmesan. Place under the broiler for just a minute to melt the cheese and begin to brown it.

Serve. You can have this plain for a small meal or add veggies and a salad to round it out.

*bread. Bread is sugar. High carb!  Bread in slight moderation can fit into your diet and not cause you to gain weight back. You will just have to experiment with it. I will warn you never to plan to make bread a part of your life again.  I only eat the bottom of the bun on a hamburger.  Or I might have a sandwich like this one at home maybe 4x a year. I want you to be wary of bread but not afraid of it.

What I am going to do here is list various breads in ascending order of BAD. The best for you will be at the top of the list with the progression going downward.

  •  Multigrain or whole grain. The more seeds and large format grains in the bread the lower the glycemic index. Be aware though that this is STILL high carb  – 11 grams of carbs per slice. Glycemic load 5
  •  100% whole wheat bread – 12 grams of carbs per slice. Glycemic load 5
  •  Sourdough/French or Italian Vienna bread – 18 grams of carbs per slice. Glycemic load 11.

Some experts will argue that sourdough is actually better for you than this number indicates. There is something about the sour element of the bread that slows down the glycemic load.

  •  White bread – 23 grams of carbs per slice.  Glycemic load 14

Spend time in the bread aisle reading the labels. Brands will vary widely. These are averages. I keep reading labels until I find one that is as low carb as they are offering. There is a small bakery in Chicago that makes an authentic low carb bread. It only had 9 grams of carbs per slice. I buy that whenever I want bread and can find it. Keep an eye out in your town or try to get a local baker to make low carb bread and promise you’ll buy it.

To give you perspective if you are not used to counting carbs:  The average adult can usually handle somewhere between 70 – 90 grams of carbs per day before they’d begin to get fatter. When you add in the carbs from fruits, veggies and other items this number mounts really FAST. So I could never imagine eating commercially baked white bread; not even a slice. If I’m at a fancy restaurant I might have one roll made of white bread that was baked by some master baker. To cut down the glycemic load I’d put a nice big bit of butter on it.  Remember when they used to tell you butter was the bad part? Now we know it was the bread.

Enjoy!

Cheers,