Pizza Casserole

We may still be in the dog days of summer, but my brain is already starting to look forward to fall cooking.  Usually I try to avoid turning on the oven too much in the summertime, but this casserole recipe caught my eye for the summer garden vegetables that it calls for--zucchini and peppers!  Between the cheese and the very cool looking breadstick design on top, my kids were in love with this meal and gobbled up every bite of their veggies!  I used a homemade breadstick recipe (that I've included below), but you could also just use a tube of refrigerated breadsticks to make it super easy to prepare.  

Recipe Source:  Recipe . com

Look at all that cheesy yumminess! 

Click here for printable recipe.

Posted by Lara. 

The ingredients:


1 pkg. (12-ounces) chicken sausage, cut into rounds
1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 red, yellow, or green peppers, seeded and diced
2 medium size zucchini, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 cans (14-1/2-ounces each) diced tomatoes, DRAINED
1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (I used a little less than this amount)

1 tube (11-ounces) refrigerated breadsticks (see below for the recipe for the homemade breadsticks I used)

Directions:
In a large frying pan, cook sliced chicken sausage on medium-high heat until golden brown and cooked through (if not already fully cooked).  Remove sausage from pan and set aside. 

Add olive oil to same pan over medium-high heat and saute onion and sweet peppers for about 5-minutes.  Add zucchini and garlic; cook about 5 minutes or until barely tender.

Add DRAINED tomatoes, sausage, Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper.  Cook for 5-7 minutes or until liquid is mostly cooked out.  Add 2 Tbs. Parmesan cheese. 

Spoon half of the tomato mixture into a greased 9x13-inch baking dish. 

Top with 1 cup mozzarella cheese. 

Add remaining tomato mixture.  Arrange breadsticks on top in lattice pattern, trimming to fit.

Sprinkle with the remaining 2 Tbs. Parmesan  cheese and the remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese. 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until breadsticks are browned and filling is bubbly. 

Enjoy! 

BREADSTICKS (if not using pre-made breadsticks)
3/4 cup hot water
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 Tbs. yeast
1-1/2 - 2 cups flour (I used half white, half whole wheat)

Directions: 
Mix hot water, sugar, oil, salt and 1 cup of flour together.  Add yeast and remaining flour until dough barely pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  Knead (in the mixer) for 5 minutes.  Allow to rest for 10 minutes.  Roll out to rectangle about 1/4-inch thick.  With pizza cutter, cut dough into 8-10 breadsticks. 

Allow to sit while preparing the rest of the casserole.  When ready to use, carefully place breadsticks in lattice pattern over the top of the casserole, trimming if necessary.  Proceed with baking directions as listed above. 

Enjoy!

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