Sausage Rice Casserole

This last Friday I had the pleasure of hosting my husband's Aunt Gloria, along with my Father & Mother In-Laws, for dinner. It was the first time we ever met Aunt Gloria- she was visiting from Texas- and she brought with her lots of wonderful old family photo's from a branch of the family that we didn't know much about. Seeing all of the old pictures was wonderful- and my children enjoyed seeing pictures of cousins that they didn't even know they had. We all had a great time getting to know one another.

For dinner, I decided on an old family favorite casserole that I enjoy making. Because this recipe makes a lot, I usually save it for potlucks, and large family dinners, and since it is a nice savory dish, I have also served it at brunches, it really helps to balance out breakfast pastries, fruits, and goes well with eggs and potato side dishes as well. Here is this wonderful recipe.

Sausage Rice Casserole

2 lbs. mild sausage
1 large onion chopped
1 bunch celery chopped
2 Packets Lipton Noodle Soup w/Chicken broth
6 cups boiling water
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup rice
1/4 cup sliced Almonds (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

Brown Sausage in a large deep pan, drain (but leave like a table spoon of grease in the pan) set aside sausage in a bowl, in pan used to brown sausage, lightly brown onion and celery, return sausage to pan along with the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for 5 minutes, then transfer to a large baking pan, cover with foil, and bake for 2 hours at 350 F.

I do not use the Almonds because of my tree nut allergy- but when I was a child and hadn't developed my tree nut allergy yet, I used to really enjoy the almonds in this recipe. This casserole takes a little time to prep and bake- but is well worth the wait. I served this for dinner along with steamed carrots and Hawaiian Rolls. We had our favorite homemade Applesauce Spice Cake (see previous recipe posts for this recipe) for dessert. The casserole was also yummy as leftovers with eggs the next morning. Hope you give this recipe a try.