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Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Company for supper, it must be Tuesday!

Our BFF's came over tonight for supper. It's great when you can entertain with your hair in a pony tail, wearing comfy clothes (even my apron) and not even realize it until they've left!

This casserole was kind of big, but I put some of it into another square baking pan lined with foil, and threw it in the freezer for another night. If you have a bigger family and can use the whole amount you will need to use at least an 11x15 pan so it won't bubble over. We had lettuce salad, rosemary bread sticks, and that was just enough. We had the right amount of room left over for hot apple crisp and vanilla ice cream.

Cavatini Pasta Bake
6 oz shell pasta
8 oz curly pasta
1/3 cup butter
1 chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper
1 small can mushrooms, sliced
2 lbs. ground beef
16 oz tomato sauce
32 oz spaghetti sauce
4-6 oz. pepperoni
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp oregano
16 oz mozzarella cheese (or a blend, then omit parm cheese)
4 oz Parmesan cheese

Boil the pasta until just underdone, drain and rinse. Saute the onion, green pepper & mushrooms in the butter till tender crisp.

Brown hamburger and drain. Stir in sauteed mixture, tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, pepperoni, salt, pepper , oregano. Add pasta and stir well.

Spray your baking pans well with 'Pam' and layer meat mixture and cheeses. Repeat layers and bake 30-40 min. @ 350* Cover with foil the last 10-15 min. if it looks like it's getting dry.

I used the basic spaghetti sauce (Hunts?) in a can that is super cheap and had some left over. I like having extra because pasta always sucks up the sauce and when this is reheated it will need some sauce to save it! I thought about fresh mushrooms but decided they would give to much extra liquid so I stuck with the can. I might add more peppers and onion next time, I really think it's important not to over cook them during the saute process.

1 comment:

Meg Schudel said...

Oh my gosh. This sounds AMAZING! I want you to make this for me right now. Please? Okay okay, well, I'll go home and make it if you refuse to cooperate (I mean, what's a plane ticket and some groceries? Whatever).

Keep posting, Mama Mullen!

Meg