Easy Italian Sausage Loaf

This really is a pretty easy dinner, especially if you start with a loaf of frozen bread dough from the grocery store. Biggest danger: eating half the finished product, warm from the oven, all by yourself.

1 loaf frozen dough

1 lb. ground sausage

1 small package Monterey Jack cheese, grated (about 8 oz. or 2 c. ) You can also use Mozzarella, Pepper Jack, or a combination of whatever cheeses you have

1 egg, beaten

few T. Parmesan cheese, to sprinkle on top

Let the dough thaw. Roll or smush it out to about 8 x 11 inches. Fry sausage in a pan and drain/blot with paper towels. Mix sausage, Monterey Jack cheese, and half of beaten egg. Place mixture down center of loaf and fold dough toward the center, pinching edges to seal. Brush remaining egg on top of loaf. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 20 or 25 minutes.

If you're feeling ambitious, you can make the dough yourself. I use a bread machine, so it's very little effort. But it does take about two hours, to allow it time to rise.

BREAD DOUGH

Dump all the following in bread machine, and press "dough" option:

2/3 c. water

1 T. butter

1 t. salt

1 T. sugar

2 c. bread flour

1 T. nonfat dry milk

3/4 t. active dry yeast