Sausage and Chickpea Casserole

Ease: 3.5/5     Kid-friendliness: 4/5     Taste: 3/5     Time: 3/5

Since we were just out camping over the long weekend, I had some left over smokies and wanted to make something a little more sophisticated than KD with chopped up smokies (although, that dish does have it's time and place...). I ended up with this. It's very filling. My nearly ten-month old LOVED the chickpeas.

What you'll need:

• 4 sausages (I used our left over Mitchell's mesquite garlic smoked sausage)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper (which I've learned are also called, capsicums!), seeded and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can chickpeas (14 oz) (which I've learned are also called, garbanzo beans!), rinsed
• 1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz)
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 C bread crumbs
• 2 Tbsp margarine

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Slit each sausage diagonally several times on both sides. In a frying pan over medium heat, cook the sausages, turning once, until browned on the outside and heated through (~10 minutes)

In another large frying pan over medium high heat, heat the oil. Stir in the chickpeas, tomatoes, onion, garlic, red pepper, and sugar.  Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently, until the chick peas are heated through (~ 5 minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cut the sausages into bite-size pieces. Spray a 3-qt casserole dish and distribute the sausages in the pan. Spoon the chick pea sauce over the sausages. Spread the bread crumbs on top and drizzle with melted butter. 

Bake until bubbly and the crumb topping is golden brown (~ 20 minutes). Let cool slightly and serve!