Food Friday - Pizza Pasta Bake

I enjoy cooking but the problem normally is that we end up with a great deal of left overs.  The bf doesn't bring lunch to work (which would help this problem and save money) so I am stuck with making sure it gets eaten.  I have begun adjusting some of my moms 5-6 person recipes to better accommodate 2-3 people. That way I don't have to eat the same two meals for three or four days.

One recent recipe that got the slim-down makeover is a Pizza Casserole recipe we got from one of my Aunts.

Yup another hand written one, but at least this one is more organized.  And no, I was not the one to write this down.

So how it was updated.  We did not use as much meat, noodles, or sauce.  The size pan we used was also smaller.

What did we use?

Tinkyada Penne Pasta.  I. Love. This. Pasta.

The meat mixture from this posts Publix recipe.  We had made over 3 pounds that day and froze over half of it.

 We tend to buy pasta sauce in bulk when we have coupons so we had this in the pantry.  Any flavor would do.

 I love olives so they always have to be present on pizza anything.

 This seasoning was already in the meat mixture so we did not end up using it.

Pizza things always must have cheese!  The mozzarella was low so we used both.

On to making it!

First we cooked the pasta.  Then placed the thawed meat mixture in with the drained pasta.

Then we dumped about 2/3rds of the pasta sauce on top of that.

It got stirred and stirred until it was fully mixed and transferred into the pan.

Because of my love of olives my side was covered with them.  Really it can be covered with any toppings desired.  I even added more sauce to my side.  I think I could eat marinara sauce plain.

Next came the cheeeeese!

Bake it in the oven for the time specified. 350 for 20 minutes.

Tada!!!

You can totally tell which is my side.

This could always be made in smaller pans so that each person has their own personal pizza pasta bake.  I think we will have to do that next time.

St. Patrick's Day is tomorrow!  I am racking my brain to think of an outfit with green in it!!