Mix it up Monday: Festival Sausage Bake

Thought we would try out a bit of a new format that we have been working on and start sharing some of the recipes that we use frequently and not so frequently around here that taste great and aren't expensive to make.

We recently discovered the blog Mr Food. There are great meal ideas here and free Ecookbooks!

The recipe I want to share with you is called Festival Sausage Bake.

We had this last night for a potluck and made enough to have frozen meals for work and school lunches.

From their blog here is the recipe:

What You'll Need: 

1 pound rigatoni pasta 

2 tablespoons vegetable oil 

1 1/4 pounds hot Italian sausage, cut into 1-inch pieces 

2 large green bell peppers, cut into 1/2-inch strips 

2 medium-sized onions, cut into 1/4-inch slices

2 teaspoons minced garlic 

2 (26-ounce) jars spaghetti sauce 

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 

1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese 

What To Do: 

Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.   

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add sausage, peppers, onions, and garlic, and cook 15 to 20 minutes, or until sausage is cooked through and peppers and onions are tender, stirring occasionally.   Drain sausage mixture, and place in a large bowl. 

Add pasta, spaghetti sauce, and Parmesan cheese; mix well. Pour into a 9" x 13" baking dish, cover with aluminum foil, and bake 20 minutes.   Remove foil; sprinkle sausage bake with mozzarella cheese then bake 10 minutes, or until heated through and cheese is melted. 

Read more at http://www.mrfood.com/Casseroles/Festival-Sausage-Bake#BsvHftoueopBQkbM.99

We cheated with recipe a bit for time and money purposes. Here's how we cut corners:

We didn't preheat the oven while the sausage and pasta were cooking. We waited until about 5 minutes before we put it in the oven and we cooked it at the same time as our dessert to save money on heating costs.

We used 3 sausage lengths instead of 1 1/4 pounds (We bought from a local farmer to save money. We purchased a large amount and froze them to save even more money).

Peppers (switched one for a jalapeño to add some more spice. Peppers, onions and garlic were used from our garden to lower the cost even more and keep it local.)

Only one jar of spaghetti sauce instead of two (I bought a tonne of it on sale for $0.90 awhile back).

Used less Parmesan cheese and used mozzarella cheese that I had bought and stocked up on when it was on sale last month.

This meal cost us around $5 to prepare, served a bunch of people at the potluck and made 4 extra lunches for the freezer. I had to bake it in the largest casserole dish and it was filled to the brim!

We loved it. Everyone said it was very tasty. I would definitely make this again.

Let us know if you've tried it and what your thoughts are. 

Do you have a meal that is low in cost and high in taste? Share the recipe and the picture with us and we will feature it on a future Monday post.

Enjoy your day!