Rigatoni & Italian Sausage Bake

Last night I made a wonderful meal from my 500 Casseroles recipe book. I love this cookbook line, because the recipes are pretty easy and straightforward, and the book is compact but jammed packed with great recipes and even better pictures. I hate cookbooks that don’t have pictures. How do I know what the dish is supposed to look like, or if I even want to make it? Have no fear, this book has tons of pictures and my meal looked almost as good as the one in the book. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but mama did good. Toot toot! I served my rigatoni bake with a side Cesar salad and another one of my attempts to create my own garlic bread recipe. Ehhh the bread wasn’t bad, but I am still working on it and trying to find the right garlic/cheese ratio.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ lb. mild Italian sausage
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
• salt ad freshly ground black pepper to taste
• ½ cup tomato paste
• 2 (28 oz.) cans whole tomatoes with liquid
• 1 lb. uncooked rigatoni
• 2 cups provolone
• ¼ cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley

Directions

Remove sausage from casings to form small chunks. Brown sausage in large, heavy saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Set browned sausage aside, and discard all but 2 tablespoons of fat. Sauté onion, garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and continue cooking for 3 minutes. Add tomatoes with liquid. Break up tomatoes into smaller pieces and bring sauce to a boil. Return sausage to sauce and reduce heat to low. Simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes, until sauce thickens.

Preheat oven to 375°F. In large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta for 6 minutes, until al dente. Drain and add to sauce. Add ¾ cup grated provolone and chopped parsley, and stir to combine. Transfer to a large (9×13-inch) rectangular casserole dish and top with remaining cheese. Cover casserole with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes, until hot and bubbly. Remove foil 10 minutes before the end of cooking to brown top of casserole.

Notes: This recipe could feed and army. Next time I will definitely cut the ingredients in half. However, it does keep very well and warms up perfectly.

Chicken Tamale Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese, divided
• ⅓ cup fat-free milk
• ¼ cup egg substitute
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ⅛ teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1 (14 ¾-ounce) can cream-style corn
• 1 (8.5-ounce) box corn muffin mix (such as Martha White)
• 1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
• Cooking spray
• 1 (10-ounce) can of red enchilada sauce (such as Old El Paso)
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
• ½ cup fat-free sour cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Combine ¼ cup cheese and next 7 ingredients (through chiles) in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
3. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until set. Pierce entire surface liberally with a fork; pour enchilada sauce over top. Top with chicken; sprinkle with remaining ¾ cup cheese. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Cut into 8 pieces; top each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream.

Sausage Breakfast Casserole

This was the first breakfast casserole I ever learned how to make and like most casseroles it feeds an army, but does not require any slaving away in the kitchen. Perfect for big families, or those holiday visitors.

Ingredients

• 1 package (12 oz) bulk pork sausage
• ⅓ cup chopped onion
• ⅓ cup chopped green bell pepper
• ⅓ cup chopped red bell pepper
• 10 eggs
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz) or as much as you like
• 1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® Flaky Layers refrigerated original biscuits or crescent rolls

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Spray 13×9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray.
3. In 10-inch skillet, brown sausage, onion and bell peppers and drain well.
4. In large bowl, beat eggs. Stir in cheese and sausage mixture.
5. Press biscuits into bottom of baking dish. (If you use crescent rolls, don’t separate, just roll them out along the dish)
6. Pour sausage mixture over biscuit crust.
7. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until egg mixture is set and crust is deep golden brown.
8. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

Notes: When I make this delowcious casserole I add jalapenos for a little kick of spice. If you are cooking for any youngins or any woosie adults, I would steer clear of the jalapenos and just stick with the onions and bell peppers. However, I have also made the dish sans vegetables all together. You can really do whatever you want to this thing and you won’t mess it up. Add some eggs, subtract some eggs… Tons of cheese, or different types of cheese… Lots of veggies, or non at all… biscuit crust or crescent roll crust. Honestly anything will work when it comes to this casserole.

• Prep Time: 20min
• Cook Time: 30min
• Total Time: 50min
• Recipe Yields:  8 servings

French Toast Casserole

Who doesn’t love french toast? Personally, it is my favorite breakfast food. My Grandpa Roger used to make it for me every morning when I was a little girl… That’s love. Luckily he only had to make enough for the two of us, but what about if you have a large family that loves french toast, or maybe you want to impress some weekend visitors who are used to having a bowl of cereal put in front of them. You will definitely satisfy both their hunger and their french toast craving with this simple and easy recipe. Plus you will have them wondering how you pulled of french toast in bulk without it getting cold and dry before it even hits the table. Keep an eye out for more breakfast casserole recipes that allow you to spend the morning enjoying your family, while still enjoying a delowcious homemade breakfast.

Ingredients

• 1 loaf French bread (13 to 16 ounces)
• 8 large eggs
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Dash salt
• Praline Topping, recipe follows
• Maple syrup

Praline Topping:

• ½ pound (2 sticks) butter
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions

Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch each. (Use any extra bread for garlic toast or bread crumbs). Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat with a rotary beater or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with maple syrup.

Praline Topping:

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well. Makes enough for Baked French Toast Casserole.

• Source: Paula Deen
• Prep Time: 40min
• Inactive Time: 8hrs
• Cook Time: 40min
• Total Time: 9hrs
• Recipe Yields: 6 to 8 servings

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole

What’s for dinner tonight? You guessed it! An easy peasy casserole. Casseroles are not really my thing, but mama needs a break. Apparently learning to be a new wife is harder than I thought. Technically I am not working right now, so I have a lot of time on my hands. However, in my opinion sorting through wedding gifts, buying and returning what we do and do not need (turns out we did not need 5 cake plates and 2 coffee makers like I thought) setting up the blog, doing daily house chores, keeping up with the laundry and the dishes (I mean water glasses my husband leaves all over the house) waiting on hold with the cable company for 45 minutes just to be disconnected, figuring out what I am going to cook and making sure it is ready to go so I can cook it right after we get home from the gym so somebody’s blood sugar does not drop too low… Yeah sounds like a job to me. Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT complaining, just making sure nobody thinks I do nothing all day long. Ok now that I got that off my chest, where was I?

Oh yeah, dinner tonight… I know what you are thinking… Quite writing about it and go do it and maybe you will have more hours in the day, right? Maybe, but I enjoy this and it helps keep me on track and get excited about what I am doing. Plus next time I want to make this hopefully delowcious meal again I will have the recipe on hand. Ok let’s try this again…

Ingredients

• 1 can (10 ¾ ounces) Campbell’s Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1 ⅓ cups water (I use chicken stock intead. It adds tons of flavor!)
• ¾ cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice (I use brown rice for a healthier version.)
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
• 1 ¼ pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• ½ cup shredded Cheddar cheese (about 2 ounces)

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Stir the soup, water, rice, onion powder, black pepper and vegetables in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish.
3. Top the rice mixture with the chicken. Cover the baking dish.
4. Bake for 50 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the rice is tender.
5. Top with the cheese and let the casserole stand for 10 minutes.
6. Stir the rice before serving.

Recipe Alterations

• Serving Suggestion: Serve with a Caesar salad. For dessert serve frozen Italian-style water ice or gelato.
• Alfredo: Substitute broccoli florets for the vegetables and substitute ¼ cup grated Parmesan for the Cheddar cheese. Add 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese with the soup. Sprinkle the chicken with the remaining Parmesan cheese.
• Lower Fat: Use Campbell’s 98% Fat Free Cream of Chicken Soup instead of regular soup and use low-fat cheese instead of regular cheese.
• Mexican: In place of the onion powder and black pepper use 1 teaspoon chili powder. Substitute Mexican cheese blend for the Cheddar.
• Italian: In place of the onion powder and black pepper use 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, crushed. Substitute ⅓ cup shredded Parmesan for the Cheddar.

Notes: Sounds easy enough, right? That’s why I picked her. After last nights taco extravaganza I needed simple. Stay tuned for an update.

• Source: Campbell’s Kitchen

Mexican Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 lb lean ground turkey
• 1 medium white onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• ½ jalepeno chopped
• 3 roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 can Pinto beans
• 1 can Black beans
• 1 packet ranch seasoning
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon cayenne
• ½ teaspoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon garlic salt
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes with diced chili’s
• 10 corn tortillas, cut into strips
• 10 ounces mexican cheese blend

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large skillet, saute onion, bell pepper, zucchini, and jalepeno is olive oil.  Cook for a few minutes (3 or 4), then add in ground turkey.  Brown turkey.

Once turkey is browned, add in beans, ranch seasoning, spices, and salt and pepper.  Let simmer.

While meat mixture is simmering, line a glass pyrex with half of the tortilla strips. I use a 9×13 dish.  Once meat is done simmering, pour half of the mixture on top.  Sprinkle and cover with half of the cheese. Arrange the remaining tortilla strips on top of cheese. Pour additional meat mixture on top, then sprinkle with cheese to cover.  Pour rotel tomatoes on over top.

Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, uncovered.

• Source: Pardon The Dog Hair