This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sargento Foods, Inc. for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
Getting tired of cold sandwiches and canned soup for lunch? Sargento Cheese is encouraging us to take a real lunch. Mid-day meals don’t have to be hurried, grab-whatever-you-can-find affairs. Slow down and plan a real lunch.
This Easy Pizza Rice Casserole uses a few quick ingredients. If you have leftover rice, it’s even quicker. The Italian Sausage and zucchini make for a hearty lunch. The dish gets topped with slices of Sargento provolone cheese. Who can resist a cheese topped casserole?
Pizza Rice Casserole can be made for lunch at home, but it also travels well if you’re sharing at the office. Or if you need to pack it up, use a soup thermos to keep it hot until lunch time. Guaranteed to cause lunch-envy in everyone around you!
Pair this casserole with a green salad tossed with oil and vinegar dressing.
I adapted this recipe from the More with Less Cookbook. I used instant brown rice, to make things quicker. Instant brown rice has all the nutrition of the long-cooking variety, but can be made in 5 or 10 minutes. I also added chopped zucchini and swapped out the ground beef for more flavorful Italian sausage.
Easy Pizza Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 cups instant brown rice
- 1 3/4 cups water
- 1 lb. ground Italian Sausage
- 1 onion diced
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- 1 zucchini chopped
- 1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 16 oz cottage cheese
- 5 slices Sargento provolone cheese
Instructions
- Cook brown rice in water according to package directions.
- Brown sausage, onion and garlic in skillet over medium heat until sausage is cooked fully.
- Add zucchini to the skillet 5 or 7 minutes before sausage is done.
- Drain meat and rinse with hot water to remove extra grease.
- Return meat to the skillet.
- Stir in tomato sauce and oregano.
- Stir cottage cheese into cooked rice.
- Pour rice into greased casserole dish.
- Top with meat mixture.
- Place Sargento cheese slices over top of meat.
- Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until hot.
Sargento Natural Cheese comes in many varieties. My cheese drawer almost always has several types. We especially love the ultra-thin slices.
What’s your favorite kind of real lunch?
My husband would flip over this!
I have a similar recipe that we like, but I love this healthier version using brown rice and zucchini!