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| Easy Baked Pasta |
My husband doesn't really like pasta.
I know, I know. Sad, isn't it? He blames his aversion to this
fabulous food staple on his mother feeding him canned ravioli as a kid.
So, I guess you can't really blame him. He WILL eat spaghetti on
occasion; but it's on evenings that he is gone (like tonight he's at class)
that I will make pasta for me and my son Ezra, aka My Eating Buddy. I
came up with this little ditty on the fly one night, and Ezra said it was his
favorite pasta ever. I quite liked it myself. I really got the idea
for it from my husband's Aunt Willa, who makes this heart-warming crock pot
pizza, which I'll have to post some time as well. This recipe is so easy,
I hadn't really thought to post it, but I have time and light this evening, so
here it goes.
Since I make this for just me and Ezra,
it's not a lot. It's enough for us and for me to have some for lunch the
next day. The recipe is easily doubled
Easy Baked Pasta
Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound lean ground beef
- 1/2 jar (about 7 oz.) pizza sauce (I use Ragu Traditional Pizza Quick)
- 2 cups dry mini pasta (I use Barilla Piccolini Mini Farfalle)
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup shredded Italian cheese blend
- salted water for boiling pasta
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Brown ground beef in a medium pan.
Drain fat, if necessary. Pour in pizza sauce. I add a little
water if it seems too thick/dry. Simmer over low heat for about 10
minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a large-ish pot of
water to a rolling boil. Add pasta and boil for one minute less than the
package directions. Drain pasta and add to the meaty sauce.
Pour into a medium sized baking dish.
Top evenly with cheese. Place in the oven and bake for about 10-15
minutes, or until cheese is just melty. Don't let it go so long that the
cheese browns. It doesn't taste as good when it goes that far.
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| Baby bow-tie pasta |
Pasta is my favorite comfort food. Except I always eat too much of it. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeletei'd love to make this for my soon to be husband and I, but we both have acid reflux/ulcer issues...can I sub Alfredo sauce and chicken instead of beef and tomato sauce? If so, what spices do I use? It looks delicious, but my stomache's saying no to the tomatoes, lol!
ReplyDeleteI think it would taste fantastic with an alfredo sauce. I would add broccoli too, if it were me. I would marinate the chicken in my favorite Italian dressing or, I really like the Weber Canadian Chicken seasoning on chicken that I put in pasta dishes. I looked up a relatively simple alfredo recipe at allrecipes.com--
Deletehttp://allrecipes.com/recipe/alfredo-sauce/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=alfredo%20sauce&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page
Or you could buy a jarred white pasta sauce, which I have not done.
If you go with the allrecipes.com alfredo sauce, I would also add a small minced clove of garlic because I like garlic. After you put the cheese on this, though, it will be super duper rich, but delicious, I'm sure.
thank you! i'll be trying it out tomorrow...will let you know how it works out with the alfredo :)
Deleteit was delicious with the alfredo! we used Purdue Short-Cuts Italian seasoning chicken and Classico Roasted Garlic Alfredo sauce...lots of cheese as we're both cheese lovers. I think next time though, I'll use some portabello mushrooms and will add fresh parmesan cheese. This is gonna be a new family favorite at our house!
DeleteI love it, Anya! Thanks for letting me know it turned out!
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