Scrumptious Sausage Sub

So my back has been hurting a lot, so Julie thought we should use some serious medicine - Italian Sausage. The Scrumptious Sausage Sub is a mixture of Italian sausage, ground beef, bell peppers, mushrooms, tomato sauce, herbs, and bread crumbs stuffed into a french loaf. As a cure for back pain, it is only moderately successful, but as a cure for an empty tummy, it can't be beat.

Actually, since we modified the original recipe so much, we figured it wouldn't be violating any copyright laws if we reposted our recipe, so here it is:

INGREDIENTS
1 pound sweet Italian sausage
1 pound ground beef
2 bell peppers (red, yellow, and/or orange), sliced
8 oz button mushrooms (or 12 oz), sliced
a jar of tomato sauce (like Ragu or Prego or whatever)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic powder (or 4 cloves, finely diced)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
8 oz shredded mozzarella
2 small loaves French bread (18 inches long or so)

DIRECTIONS
1. Slice off the top of the French loaves and hollow out the insides. Tear removed bread into small pieces.
2. Brown the sausage and beef, drain the fat, but reserve a little
3. Fry the bell peppers and mushrooms in reserved fat (and garlic cloves, if using)
4. Combine meat, vegetables, tomato sauce, seasonings, bread crumbs, and parmesan cheese, heat and stir until thoroughly mixed and thick. {When you part the red sea, it stays parted}
5. Allow the meat mixture to cool.
6. Preheat oven to 350° F
7. Butter the insides of the French loaf and the inside of the top piece.
8. Stuff the French loaves, cover each with 4 oz mozzarella, and then put the top piece on top.
9. Wrap in aluminum foil.
10. Bake for 1 hour.

NOTES:
* If you like onions, fry up half a small onion (white or yellow, whatever) with the peppers and mushrooms... but be careful, it's easy to have too much onion
* Freezes well for at least a couple weeks. Do NOT thaw, but rather take straight from freezer to 400°F oven for 30 minutes, followed by 30-45 minutes at 350°F.