Mari Sandoz’s daddy could have been a dignified doctor, living the gracious life in Switzerland. But a money fight with his own father, and the promise of free land in America — Heck, just plain freedom from everything, like interfering fathers — and the headstrong Jules Sandoz boarded a boat for the new world.

Thus launches Sandoz’s novelized biography, Old Jules.

All that free farmland waited for Jules out in Nebraska. Armed with government graphs on rainfall and climate, he headed across the continent. Dismissing the advice of every other settler who’d cracked a hoe into the ground, ignoring the “dry gullies” and “denuded knolls” right in front his eyes — did I mention that he was headstrong? — Jules pressed on.

Once he got settled in a gloomy dugout, he sent for his Swiss countrymen, promising to help them file for free land of their own.

Jules’s corner of Nebraska was the kind of land that scared off sensible people. Whether Jules was sensible is a fair debate, but he definitely didn’t scare easy.

Not a few homesteaders gave up and abandoned their claims. Cattle ranchers moved in. Cattle need vast acres of rangeland, so the ranchers launched a campaign to scare off the remaining homesteaders.

But they didn’t mess with Jules. Could be because Jules was good with a gun. The only time his trigger finger ever shook was when he aimed his rifle at grizzly bear.

Are some men built to suit the windswept prairie where they stake their claim? Or do those dry gullies turn them into human versions of that demanding, unforgiving landscape? Whatever the answer is, Jules and Nebraska were a match.

He bathed twice a year, wore a greasy cap on his head, cursed, bellowed “Everybody working against me!”, used the buggy whip on his children and worse on his wives.

But he stayed put. His neighbors trusted him, feared him, relied on him, and gossiped about him.

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Here’s a hot sandwich full of all the vegetables Jules and his fellow Nebraskans probably couldn’t grow out on their unfortunate homesteads. The juicy sausage flavors everything.

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It also makes the cat hang out somewhere near your ankles in hopes you’ll trip and drop something his way.

SAUSAGE VEGETABLE HERO SANDWICH:

  • 1 lb. sweet Italian sausage links
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 medium onions, quartered and sliced
  • 2 medium green bell peppers, cut into thin strips
  • 1 medium red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
  • 2 medium zucchini, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 1/2 tsp. basil
  • 1/2 tsp. oregano
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • 6 sandwich rolls, split and toasted

1. Place sausage links in a 10-inch skillet. Add water and cook, uncovered, over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until water evaporates, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and continue cooking, turning occasionally, until sausages are lightly browned, about 5 minutes.

2. Remove sausages to a cutting board; cut diagonally into 1/4-inch slices. Return to skillet and cook, over medium heat, stirring, 8-10 minutes, or until well browned. Remove to a dish.

3. In same skillet, cook onions over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 4 to 5 minutes, or until limp. Add red and green peppers and zucchini and cook, stirring occasionally, until zucchini is tender, about 10 minutes.

4. Add browned sausage, garlic, basil, oregano, and broth. Heat to boiling, reduce heat to low, and simmer 10 minutes. To serve place a split roll on individual serving plates and spoon some of the sausage and vegetable mixture on one or both halves. Serve immediately.  Best eaten with a fork and knife.

Recipe adapted from 365 Easy One-Dish Meals.