Garlic Roasted Chicken Sausage and Vegetables

So you may remember a while back (April-ish) I posted about some allergy issues I was having and that I was starting to eliminate some foods from my diet. I cut out eggs completely during that month, but because of the different medications the allergist had me on, it was really difficult to determine if that was an effective mood. At the end of April I stopped taking the prescribed steroids, allergy pills, and antacid, and sort gave myself the complete month of May to get it out of my system. Then I cut out eggs again in June. It really didn't make much difference in how I felt. But July was a rough month, and by the time I made it into August I was having a whole host of odd issues. So I went to see a Naturopath.

I have never been to a Naturopath before, but because I determined that whatever this is that is bothering me, I choose to determine the root cause before I look at treatment options. I don't want to drug the symptoms. I want to find the cause, and I want to squash it like a little bug. Or completely eradicate it like the military did with King Kong. I realize that probably sounds a bit harsh, but the host of odd symptoms I have had lately are really getting to me. Between the stomach pain, the headaches, the nosebleeds, the stiff muscles, the sore joints, the nosebleeds, the general fatigue and the insane swelling reaction to mosquitoes, I am fairly miserable. But then my right hand started to swell, and my fingers started to resemble sausages. Really painful sausages. And then I couldn't hold my tennis racquet anymore. So something had to be done.

I must admit, even after I went to my appointment and she spent 3 hours with me, I am still a little skeptical. The plan she has given me for moving forward is very intensive and I think it is going to be very hard. I am currently just a little over two days into this, and I am struggling. I hope it will get easier over time, though. She wants to run some allergy and auto-immune tests on me, but right now my body has too much inflammation for the tests to be accurate. So step one is an anti-inflammatory diet. And it is pretty strict. So no wheat, gluten, dairy, corn, eggs, soy, sugar, or citrus. I am also to avoid the nightshade family, so no tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant or peppers. Needless to say, this is really challenging me in the kitchen. So as I learn to eat this way, I figure I will share some good recipes with you.

This first recipe is adapted from a recipe I saw on the blog The Lemon Bowl. It is easily customizable to your dietary needs and preferences.

 This recipe features garlic and vegetables tossed in olive oil, paprika, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes, and then roasted with chicken sausage on top.

I started  with whole cloves of garlic. Yup. Whole. They get delicious and creamy when roasted like this, and the flavor with the chicken sausage is really wonderful. I added butternut squash, cauliflower, carrots, and onions.
 

With the chicken sausages on top, it is ready to roast.

I tried to get a good picture of the fork holes I put in the sausages to let the juices drain out over the vegetables, but it didn't come out. But you can see the chunks of artichoke in the chicken sausage. I used a garlic (um-hm... that's right) and artichoke chicken sausage.

When you pull it out of the oven, the veggies are roasted perfectly and the sausage is juicy and perfect! So this may be gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, sugar, citrus, and corn free, but it still tastes really great!
 

Garlic Roasted Chicken Sausage and Vegetables

Ingredients: (Serves 8)

4 Cups of Butternut Squash, peeled and chopped 
1 onion, chopped
1 head of Cauliflower, broken into florets
10 cloves of Garlic, peeled
8 Chicken Sausages
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 1/2 Tbsp. Paprika
2 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
Dash of Salt

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F while chopping your veggies. Scatter them in the bottom of a roasting pan. Drizzle the veggies with olive oil, paprika, red pepper flakes and salt. Toss well to combine. Cut the sausages in half and pierce each half with a fork so the juices with run down around the veggies as they cook. Place the sausages on top of the veggies.

Bake 45-55 minutes, depending on how crispy you want your sausages. I baked for 45 minutes and I thought they were perfect!

For those who are interested, here is the nutritional information:
Calories - 304
Fat - 12 g
Carbs - 35.3
Protein - 17.3