I never did make much Italian food before meeting Dave.. but he absolutely loves Italian!It has a lot to do with the fact that my grandmother did not do Italian foods so my Daddy does not care much for Italian- he recently acknowledged that he has 'put up with' my mom's spaghetti for 45 years. So when we were first dating, I made what I called Pasta Bake- basically a baked pasta with cheese! I had no idea that the Dave liked it so much until he complained that I never made it anymore. He often times complains that I stopped cooking when we got married, but considering the lack of significant weight loss by him, you know that is not true. So I have decided to surprise him tomorrow evening with a pasta bake- which is simple and yet, Dave approved!
Pasta Bake
4 cups cooked pasta- I use what I have and sometimes a mix!
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup onion
1/2 cup green pepper
1 can diced tomatoes
1.5 cups pasta sauce
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup or more of mozerella cheese
1. Prepare pasta and set aside.
2. Brown meat, peppers, and onions together using a large sauce pan. Season with salt and pepper- you can use garlic salt if you like it. After browning, add pasta sauce and tomatoes along with Italian seasoning. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for 10 minutes. Add 1/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese at this point.
3. Add the pasta to the sauce and combine- then put into a 13x9 glass casserole. Add mozerella cheese and mix in a bit- use the rest to top the pasta combination. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes until cheese begins to melt and get bubbly.
This isn't really a recipe, but just how I do something! I never really thought about how much or when to do some of the steps so play with this one, but it works! Dave loves him some Italian and this fits the bill when I don't want to do meatballs or put together a lasagna.
No comments:
Post a Comment