Sausage Veggie Cornbread Casserole

Total Time: 1 hr Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 1 lb bulk lamb sausage
• 1 large onion, cut into thin wedges
• 1 large bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black-eyed peas, drained
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen okra, thawed (not breaded okra!)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 cups self-rising cornmeal (see self-rising cornmeal)
• 1 teaspoon fresh coarse ground black pepper

Recipe

• 1 heat oven to 425ºf. grease a 9-inch by 13-inch baking pan.
• 2 in a large skillet, crumble sausage and cook till well browned, about 8 minutes, stirring often. pour off excess fat, leaving a scant amount (1 teaspoon or so).
• 3 add onion, bell pepper and garlic to browned sausage. cook until tender, stirring often.
• 4 stir in peas, tomatoes and thyme. cook just until heated through, about 2 minutes.
• 5 gently stir in okra.
• 6 pour into baking pan.
• 7 make topping:.
• 8 either: mix up 2 packages of your favorite packaged brand.
• 9 or: combine the listed topping ingredients in a medium boml. stir until smooth. don't overbeat.
• 10 spoon topping into pan around edges of sausage mixture.
• 11 bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.