Sausage and Bean Casserole

I found this recipe online and it sounded really good, minus the sausage links that is.  So I decided to be a little adventuresome and make it with ground sausage instead.  I absolutely LOVED how this turned out, I call it sausage bean casserole candy, it was sweet and yummy and I just wanted to eat more and more of it!  I cooked up a thing of french fillet green beans to go with it, a very nice complement.  It made me kind of sad that my french fillet beans didn't grow in the garden last summer!

For the bread slices it says to use, I toasted the bread and then chopped it up with my food chopper, I'm not sure how they really expected this to be done but it worked out well this way so I would probably do it like that again. 

I made the entire thing in one of my new pampered chef cookware pieces it was handy that I could cook it all on the stove and then put the cookware in the oven.  I am really loving my new pampered chef stuff. 

This is a highly recommended recipe, at least with the substituted regular jimmy dean ground sausage like I used that is, I'm not sure how it would be with the turkey links it called for.

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Sausage and bean Casserole
Cooking Light, November 2007

Ingredients

Cooking spray
1  cup  chopped onion (about 1 medium)
1  (16-ounce) package light smoked turkey sausage (such as Hillshire Farm), cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
2  garlic cloves, minced
1  (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2  tablespoons  brown sugar
2  tablespoons  tomato paste
1/2  teaspoon  dried thyme
1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
3  (16-ounce) cans cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
1  bay leaf
1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper (optional)
3  (1-ounce) slices white bread
2  tablespoons  chopped fresh parsley

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375°.

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and turkey sausage to pan; saute for 5 minutes or until browned. Add garlic, and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Stir in 2 tablespoons brown sugar, tomato paste, dried thyme, freshly ground black pepper, cannellini beans, and bay leaf. Add ground red pepper, if desired. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Place bread in a food processor, and pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure 1 1/2 cups.  Sprinkle breadcrumbs evenly over bean mixture, and lightly coat with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until browned. Discard bay leaf. Sprinkle with parsley.