Baked Penne Pasta

This weekend, while we were kid free, Mike and I decided to try a new baked pasta recipe.  I had a recipe, but then I didn't follow it at all, so I'll just post my own recipe.  I forget where the inspiration came from.  I think it was vegweb.  It was really simple to make and tasted delicious! 


Ingredients:
1 can tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 recipe cheeze sauce
1 box penne pasta
1 tsp Italian seasoning (more or less to taste)
1/2 medium onion
5 cloves garlic (I love garlic so you can adjust this if you're not a garlic lover)
Bread crumbs (optional)
Nutritional yeast (optional)
Salt (to taste)

Before baking

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Saute the onions until translucent.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant.  Add in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and Italian seasoning and let simmer.  While it's simmering prepare cheeze sauce and pasta according to package instructions.  Make sure you don't over cook the pasta.  Dump cheeze sauce into the skillet with the tomato mixture. 

Just out of the oven

In a casserole dish (or a 9"x13" cake pan) place a layer of the cheeze/tomato mixture so the pasta doesn't stick.  Next add a layer of pasta, then a layer of sauce on top of the pasta.  Repeat. In a small bowl or baggie, mix bread crumbs (1/2-3/4 cup), nutritional yeast (1/4-1/3 cup), and salt.  Add on the top of the top layer (which should be sauce).  Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes until top is golden brown and it is heated through. 

Plated for dinner (sideways sorry)

Weekend of Baking

K spent the weekend with my parents so I took the opportunity to do a little bit of baking.  I made a dozen banana muffins, a loaf of banana bread and apple crisp.  It was all amazingly delicious!  

I had a whole bunch of bananas that really needed to make into banana bread so I used the recipe from Better Homes and Gardens.  I used Ener-G egg replacer instead of eggs, but followed the rest of the recipe.  I made a triple recipe (I had a TON of very ripe bananas). 

 I also made apple crisp.  The recipe for this is also from Better Homes and Gardens.  Now is the perfect time to make Apple Crisp (or anything with apples).   

 Next time I make this, I'm gong to try to use dates instead of sugar.  I'll post the recipe if/when I get it.  I think we might need to finish what we have before I make any more.  

If you want either of the recipes just leave a comment with your email address and I'll email it to you.

Happy Fall and Happy Eating! 

Cheezeburger Mac

Recipe for Cheezeburger Mac

Ingredients:
Cheeze Sauce (Recipe HERE)

1 pkg ground meat substitute
1 box small shells

Method:

Cook pasta according to package directions. Make cheeze sauce while pasta is cooking. Drain pasta, dump the pasta, cheeze and ground meat into a pan (I used the one that the pasta had cooked in) and mix on low heat until all ingredients are heated through.

"Cheeseburger" Macaroni

We made a new dinner tonight. It was so wonderfully scrumptious Cheezeburger Mac. I served with broccoli (K and Mike had their broccoli on the side and I mixed mine in with my Cheezeburger Mac). I'm gong to try to be better about adding pictures to my blog, but I didn't get a picture of this meal. There's too much to do tonight before bed to stop and take a picture. Find the recipe HERE

Z man, who is now 8 1/2 months enjoyed some homemade sweet pea puree' and organic applesauce. In a little while he will also enjoy some delicious (not really) soy formula. It's not totally vegan, but at least it's not made with cow's milk! There's nursing story here somewhere if you really want to hear it let me know. :)

Have you tried anything new recently? What was it? How'd it turn out?