This recipe is one that I made out of my Betty Crocker cookbook. The one my mom got me for Christmas last year (or was it 2 years ago?) and I’ve read through but never cooked from? Yeah, that cookbook. Anyways, I’ve *finally* cooked out of it. I’ve made the following Corn Bread Topped Italian Sausage pie, and 2 or 3 other recipes that you’ll read about here in the near future.

No more preamble necessary, let’s get on to the casserole, shall we?

1 lb Italian sausage, onion, green pepper, garlic, tomato sauce, frozen corn, sliced mushrooms, cornmeal, flour, milk, sugar, vegetable oil, baking powder, salt, egg, cheese

Whew. For having so many ingredients, it was actually pretty simple to put together. I suspect it would have been even easier, and dare I say faster, if I wasn’t taking pictures of the process lol Anyways, start by preheating the oven to 400 degrees. Then we can start on the Sausage Pie part of this dish.

In skillet, place 1 lb Italian sausage.

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped. Or 1 teaspoon of the already minced stuff if you’re like me!

Add chopped green pepper,

and chopped onion.

Cook over medium heat until the sausage is no longer pink. Drain and return to pan.

Pour in your 15 oz. can of tomato sauce.

And your frozen corn. The recipe called for 9 oz of frozen corn, thawed, but I used 12 oz because that’s the size bag I had.

Add 1 jar of sliced mushrooms that’s been drained. And might I just ask, why do recipes always call for sizes of products that just don’t exist? At least not in my grocery store. I had a 4 oz can of mushrooms, but the recipe called for a 4.5 oz can. I highly doubt that 0.5 oz makes that much of a difference, but it does serve to annoy me.

Anyways, heat this mixture to boiling, and remove from heat. While that’s cooking, you can go ahead and get started on the cornbread mixture.

In a small bowl, pour in 2/3 cup corn meal.

Apparently a few pictures went missing… they’re not on Flickr, and not on my computer even though I distinctly remember taking them. Anyways, this picture shows the addition of 1/3 cup flour, 1 Tbs sugar, and 2 teaspoons baking powder.

1/4 teaspoon salt

Two tablespoons vegetable oil.

Add 1/2 cup milk.

And one large egg.

Beat vigorously with spoon for 30 seconds.

Stir in 1/4 cup cheese. The recipe called for shredded pepper jack cheese. I used Cheddar Jack cause it’s what I had.

Pour your hot sausage mixture into an ungreased 2 qt. casserole.

Pour the cornbread topping mixture over the hot sausage mixture and spread it out as evenly as possible. Some of mine seeped through to the lower layer of sausage.

Put it in the oven, uncovered, and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cornbread topping is golden brown.

Here’s what it looked like dished out onto my plate. In the end, it was a decent meal. At first, I thought the cornbread had kind of an “off” taste, but that could probably be attributed to the fact that it’s not Jiffy cornbread like I’m used to.

It’s a dish that I’d consider making again, but only if I had company because while it was good, I wasn’t real interested in the leftovers.

Here’s the recipe again so you don’t have to pull it out from between the pictures.

Sausage Pie

1 lb Italian sausage
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 small bell pepper, chopped (1/2 cup)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1 box (9 oz) frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
1 jar (4.5 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained

Corn Bread Topping

2/3 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/4 cup shredded pepper jack cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees.
In 10-inch skillet, cook sausage, onion, bell pepper and garlic over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until sausage is no longer pink. Drain. Stir in tomato sauce, corn and mushrooms. Heat to boiling; remove from heat.
In medium bowl, stir all topping ingredients except cheese. Beat vigorously with spoon for 30 seconds, Stir in cheese.
Spoon sausage mixture into ungreased 2 qt casserole. Pour topping over hot sausage mixture, spreading evenly.
Bake uncovered 20 to 25 minutes or until topping is golden brown.