Bag ‘em Up NC Sweet Potato Casserole

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Remove sausage from package (slice at each end and long-wise down the center, to remove casing), chop the sausage in several pieces, take each piece and pinch off 1 inch by 1 inch type sizes…too big and they won’t brown properly – too small and they can get too hard.  In 9×11 casserole dish, scatter each piece of sausage so they’re in one layer.  If you’re using vegan sausage, add the 3 tablespoons of olive oil over the sausage so each piece of sausage will brown nicely without sticking.  Bake at 400 for about 20-30 minutes until desired browning is achieved.

While the sausage is browning, place the chopped sweet potato, onion and apple into the zip lock bag and shake to combine. Then add the garlic, maple syrup spices, coconut oil, salt and pepper.  Zip up the bag so there’s some air in it…then shake the bag gently. Be sure all the ingredients are evenly coated with maple syrup and spices.  Pull the browning sausage from the oven and use a spatula to loosen any of the sausage pieces that may be stuck to the casserole dish.  Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees. Add the Sweet Potato mixture into the casserole dish, and stir to combine with the sausage. Make sure the ingredients aren’t too deep or they won’t brown well…they’ll more steam than bake.  Put the dish back into the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes (longer if you like items more brown and apple softer, or less longer if you like a firmer potato and apple.

Serve with a green vegetable or salad.