Sausage & Wild Rice Casserole

Submitted by Paige Archer

Ingredients
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 lb. ground pork sausage sage flavor
1 t butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 c chopped celery
2 6oz. packages long grain and wild rice mix (Uncle Ben's style)
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
1T chopped fresh or 1tsp dried rubbed sage
1/2 tsp pepper
3 1/2 cups chicken broth

Directions
1.  Heat pecans in large skillet over medium heat, stirring often until toasted.  Remove from skillet.

2.  Brown sausage in same skillet.  Remove sausage from skillet using slotted spoon; reserve drippings in skillet.

3.  melt butter in drippings over medium heat.  Add onion and celery and saute 10-15 minutes until tender.

4.  Remove 1 seasoning packet from rice mixes; reserve for another use.  Combine sausage, vegetable mixture, remaining seasoning packet, rice, and next 3 ingredients in lightly greastd 13x9 baking dish.  Stir in chicken broth until well blended.

5.  Bake, covered at 325 for 1 hour our until liquid is almost absorbed.  Let stand 5 minutes.  Sprinkle chopped pecans on top.

**I usually divide this before I stir in the broth.  I bake the first part in an 8x8 casserole that night using 1/2 of the broth, and freeze the rest of the mixture in a ziploc freezer bag.  Then when I need to fix a quick supper, I dump it into an 8x8, add the rest of the broth, and bake it like normal.