Cheesy Pasta and Sausage Bake
Really, really thought it wouldn’t happen till the beginning of next week… but the holiday frenzy knocked Mama for a loop yesterday.
And when that happens, Mama needs a go-to recipe for dinner…something that takes minimal thinking and prep. Here’s a dish that you can whip up in about 45 minutes with just four simple ingredients. I used spicy Italian sausage, but you can substitute turkey sausage, ground beef or ground chicken. Make a green vegetable and serve some fruit and you’ll have solved another Dinner Dilemma.
Gotta get those cookies out of the oven so Sis can take them up to the school, then I’ll wrap a few more gifts, water the Christmas Tree, walk the dog…
Cheesy Pasta and Sausage Bake
prep: 15 minutes
cook: 30 minutes
you’ll need…
12 oz. penne, mostaccioli or rigatoni pasta
1 ¼ lbs. Italian sausage, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 24-oz. jar pasta sauce or 3 cups homemade tomato sauce
1 8 oz. package Italian 4 cheese blend
let’s get to it…
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Prepare the pasta according to package directions. Drain.
Brown the sausage (or whatever meat you are using). Drain.
Spoon ⅓ of the pasta into a large oven-proof baking dish. Top with ⅓ of the sausage, ⅓ of the sauce and ⅓ of the cheese. Repeat the layers, until all of the pasta, sausage, sauce and cheese have been used. Make sure your last layer is the cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes or until heated through.
cooking tip…
Turkey sausage, ground chicken or ground beef can be substituted for the Italian sausage.
