Mushroom Sausage Casserole

I've made this Mushroom Casserole dish a bunch of time as is, and it is quite good. I was in the food store and thought oh I should make that mushroom casserole dish. I wanted to add some sausage to it. I thought it would go well. Well, I thought it called for more mushrooms than what it does and I also forgot the sour cream. Never fear it still came out good.

Mushroom Casserole (Adapted from 101 Cookbooks)

3 c brown rice, cooked and at room temperature
1 onion, chopped
olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1lb Italian Sweet Sausage, removed from casing
12 oz mushrooms (Baby Bellas and portabellas)
1t thyme, dried
1/2 t sage, dried ground
3 large eggs
16 oz cottage cheese
1/3 c Parmesan Cheese
salt/pepper

Butter casserole dish and set aside. In a skillet add 1T of olive oil, onion, and salt. Saute about 10-15 over low flame; stirring occasionally. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add onions to rice. Add the sausage meat to the skillet, breaking up into small pieces. Cook until no longer pink. Add to rice. Add a glug or two of olive oil to the skillet and add half of the mushrooms. Add half of the thyme and sage. Continue to saute until mushrooms have shrunk down about 5-8 minutes. Add to rice. Cook remaining mushrooms. Then add to rice. Use a spatula to gently mix ingredients. In another bowl, whisk eggs, cottage cheese, and salt/pepper.  Add Parmesan cheese. Gently fold egg/cheese into rice mixture. Turn out into casserole dish. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350. Remove foil and bake for an additional 30 minutes.

There are a lot of steps to this recipe but it makes a large amount so there are plenty of leftovers.  I usually make the rice and spread it out on a large baking sheet to get it cool faster. There are also a lot of dishes to clean up after making this. This time I used a large bowl and pushed the rice up the sides to cool. This made one less thing to clean since I mixed all the ingredients in it.