Smoked Sausage & Pasta Casserole

Last night's dinner was wonderful. It had a few of my favorite things all rolled into one. Let's just start by saying, I love casseroles. Most of the cooking in one or two dishes and you have time to wash the prep dishes while its baking. Also, only one serving platter and its the same dish you baked it in. Then, we are brought to one of my biggest ingredient obsessions which is CHEESE!!! If you've read my blog for a little, you have to know my love affair with carbs (potato or pasta, I'm not picky) and CHEESE which is, more often than not, an ingredient in most casseroles!!! This casserole also contains two lesser known loves of mine, smoked sausage and FRONIONS!! I usually use turkey smoked sausage but used regular for this recipe. Also, I now know from this recipe that there is such a thing as Cheddar french-fried onions. I must find these things however, I made this recipe last minute so I just used the original variety that I had in my pantry and just added some cheddar along with the mozzarella cheese. This one was a hit, including the day after!


Smoked Sausage & Pasta Casserole
Adapted from Taste of Home

2 c. uncooked farfalle pasta,
       (original calls for penne)
1 lb. smoked sausage, cut into 1/4" slices
       (I cut the slices in half moons)
1.5 c. 2% milk
1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of
        celery soup, undiluted
        (I used cream of mushroom)
1.5 c. french-fried onions, divided
0.75 c. shredded mozzarella cheese,
         divided
0.5 c. shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 c. frozen peas



Cook pasta 1-2 minutes shy of package directions to allow for a little sauce absorption during baking. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, brown sausage over medium heat for 5 min.; drain. In small bowl, combine the two cheeses. In a large bowl, combine milk and soup. Stir in about 0.5 c. onions, 0.5 c. (heaping) of the cheese mixture, peas and sauteed sausage. Drain pasta; combine with sausage mixture.

Transfer to a greased 13" x 9" baking dish. Cover and bake at 375F for 25 - 30 min or until bubbly. Sprinkle with remaining onions and cheese. Bake, uncovered, 3 - 5 min longer or until cheese is melted.

ENJOY!


**Sharing on Melt in Your Mouth Monday & Jam Hand's Recipe Sharing Monday**

Creamy Yummy Crunchy Goodness: Nacho Mac 'n' Cheese

There's not much to be said about this one except for it's DELICIOUS! The food just kind of speaks for itself and, this one, will definitely be showing up in my kitchen again sometime soon. There are, however, some things I may do different next time. Possibly try it with ground turkey or chicken instead of the beef, for one. Also, I used to keep a homemade taco seasoning on hand but I've been buying the premixed stuff lately. With how many Mexican recipes I've been making here of late, I really should think about mixing my own again. Just to make you aware, this does make a fairly large batch but the leftovers were even more delicious! Well, as I said, that's about it. Hope you enjoy it as much as we all did.

Nacho Mac 'n' Cheese
From Taste of Home's Simple & Delicious Cookbook 2nd Edition

3 c. uncooked gemelli or spiral pasta, I used a vegetable mix rotini
1 lb. ground beef
2 c. chopped sweet red pepper
1/4 c. butter, cubed
1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 env. taco seasoning
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 1/4 c. milk
2 c. (8 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese
1 c. frozen corn, thawed
1 c. coarsely crushed tortilla chips, (I used Fritos® corn chips and I'm pretty sure it was more than 1 c.)

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven, cook beef and red pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.

Stir in the butter, flour, taco seasoning and pepper until blended. Gradually stir in milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat. Stir in cheese and corn until cheese is melted.

Drain the pasta; add to the beef mixture and stir to coat. Sprinkle with the tortilla chips. (I kept the chips at the table to sprinkle there so that there were no chips on the leftovers or they would get soggy in the refrigerator.)

ENJOY!!