Easy Potato, Bean and Sausage Skillet

My husband and I went camping a couple months ago, and since food is always a big part of any vacation, I wanted to make sure that we had some tasty dinners planned. We only have a tent though, not a big fancy trailer with a gourmet kitchen, so I knew that any recipe I picked needed to be easy to prepare. 

I had originally intended to make this recipe 'foil-packet style' over the fire. However, the first night we were camping the wood was so wet that there's no way we were going to get a hot enough fire going in time for dinner. Luckily I had brought along an electric fry-pan for this very reason (or if it rained), so I simply made a few minor adjustments to the recipe.

Before we left for camping, I had pre-cooked all of our meat so that I wouldn't have to deal with anything raw. This  also helped significantly with cook time. I've made this dish twice now since then and having raw meat really doesn't add too much time. I'm sure there's something out there that says you should cook your meat in a separate pan and then combine everything, but I just don't care. I haven't gotten sick, and I contend that as long as everything gets cooked through, there's no harm. If you want to cook everything separately, by all means go for it, you'll just have a few more dishes to do.

Easy Potato, Bean and Sausage Skillet

Ingredients

1 pound sausage, cut into 1 inch pieces (any variety works, I used sweet)
8 ounces green beans, fresh or frozen
1 onion, chopped
4-5 small potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks (russet or yukon gold)
4-5 mushrooms, sliced (optional)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon butter
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
1) In a large skillet, or electric fry pan, melt butter and add garlic over medium heat. Add prepared potatoes and sausage and cook over for about 5-7 minutes. 

2) When sausage is mostly cooked through (very little pink showing), add green beans, mushrooms and onion. Continue to cook until beans are slightly tender, potatoes can be pierced with a fork, and sausage is completely cooked through (about 10-15 minutes total).

*To prepare this as a foil packet meal: Make two double layer aluminum foil packets and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Divide evenly all ingredients by first layering potatoes on bottom and the remaining ingredients on top. Top each with a cut of butter and pour 1/3 cup water over each packet. Wrap and seal the packet, leaving some air space in it to allow for steaming. Cook on hot coals for about 15 minutes, flipping once. Remove carefully as entire packet will be extremely hot. Enjoy!