Sunday, May 19, 2013

Pizza Pasta Casserole

A couple weeks ago, I was sitting on the couch after the kids were in bed with my hubby beside me scrolling through recipes on Pinterest.  He happened to look over at my laptop and this picture caught his eye:

"What is that one?" he asked.  "It looks good!"  So, I clicked on it and the link took me here to a recipe for Pepperoni Pizza Casserole.  It did look good and I eventually worked it into our family menu.  Well, let's just say it was a BIG hit!!  Everyone loved it and that is a big deal in my house.  I will definitely be making it again.  It is easy, cost-effective,  it makes a lot (we had plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day) and you could easily tweak it to suit your tastes.  I thought I would share the recipe here so all of you can enjoy it, too!!

(I did change it just a tad, so this is the recipe for the way I made it.  It is, however, based on the original.)

Pizza Pasta Casserole

Ingredients:
1 lb. rigatoni pasta
1/2 lb. ground Italian sausage, mild
24 oz. pizza sauce
4 oz. mini pepperoni slices
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1.  Boil and Drain Pasta according to package directions for al dente.
2.  In skillet, brown sausage.  Once sausage is cooked through and no longer pink, add pepperoni slices and pizza sauce.  Remove from heat.
3. In separate bowl, combine ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan cheeses.  Stir in seasoning.
4. Layer half of pasta in bottom of casserole dish.  Top with half of meat/sauce.  Add half of cheese mixture.  Repeat layers.




5.  Cover with foil and bake in 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes until cheese is melted and golden brown. 



**One great thing about this casserole is that you can customize it to what you and your family like by adding other ingredients to the sauce mixture.  Some possible mix-ins are sliced black olives, mushrooms, diced green pepper, diced onion, or browned ground beef.

**Also, this makes A LOT!!  It will completely fill a 13X9 pan.  You could easily separate it into two square pans and freeze one for another time.  Instead of baking the second one, just wrap it tightly and pop it in the freezer.

10 comments:

mrs_karenC said...

HOLY MOLY...I AM SO FLIPPING HUNGRY NOW WOMAN...going to pin this1

TheMissusV said...

I need this now! Yum1

Sarah said...

My Little Dude would love this!

Tarana said...

This looks so delish!

Lisa @ The Golden Spoons said...

:-) It's delicious!

Lisa @ The Golden Spoons said...

It's yummy!

Lisa @ The Golden Spoons said...

My kids love it!

Kristi - Finding Ninee said...

yum yum

Chris Carter said...

This looks soooo good!

Angela Caswell said...

I have a pizza pasta recipe but it is nothing like this one (it's an OLD weight watchers recipe... or maybe I've just adapted it so much I don't recognize the original).

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