Gluten Free Apple Sausage Casserole

It's almost time to head to Syracuse to celebrate New Year's Eve! Mindy and I have made it a tradition for the past 5 years or so, to spend New Year's Eve with our two great friends David and Cheryl Vermilya, listening to music, drinking good wine, eating great food..  They live on a river, and the front of their home is mostly window.  I can spend hours watching the birds at the feeders, or the deer wandering through the forest on the opposite bank of the river. Another part of the tradition is to either x-country ski, or hike at Beaver Lake on the morning of New Year's Day. I love starting the year that way. So much better than nursing a pounding hangover. Usually it's just a mild one:)

On to the food.

The following may sound like a completely bizzaro taste combination, but I swear...  It's awesome!  I used sweet turkey sausage (making sure to inspect for "G" ingredients), but feel free to use any kind of sweet sausage you like.  You want to have drippings to drizzle on everything just before going into the oven, so if you use turkey, or any other kind of non-greasy meat, you'll want to cook the sausage in two tblsp. of butter and two tblsp. of olive oil.  The butter and oil will draw out a lot of flavor, which is exactly what you want.

      

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds of sausage (cut into chunks)
• 4 medium apples (your favorite kind), peeled, cored and sliced
• 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, halved and sliced (I love yams!!)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tblsp. gluten free flour (I like Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF Baking Mix)
• 2 tblsp. sugar

Directions

1. Fry your non-greasy sausage in butter and olive oil until cooked through and lightly browned. If you're using pork, drippings a plenty for sure!
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
3. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray (most are GF, but check the ingredients)
4. Mix together the salt, gluten free flour and sugar in a small bowl. 
5. Layer the cooked sausage, apple and sweet potato slices in the casserole dish, sprinkling with flour mixture between layers. Top it off by drizzling your drippings over the whole shabang
6. Cover the casserole dish with heavy duty aluminum foil and throw it in the oven for 1 hour, or until the sweet potato slices are soft.
7. Chow down immediately!