Easy Cheesy Baked Penne

Ever had one of those super long days where you want to make a nice home-cooked meal, but you’ve had an annoying day at work and you’re just like, ugh. I don’t want to cook.

This is the solution.  It’s decently easy and about 40% already made for you.  You’re pretty much just mixing it together.  AND I made it like the half-easy way.  There are totally things you could do to make it full-easy.

[embed]https://youtu.be/s_huIlE62Ek[/embed]

Ingredients

• 1 16 oz. box of penne pasta (I use whole-wheat)
• half an onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pack of Trader Joe’s Sundried Tomato and Basil Chicken Sausage (~5 links), optional for vegetarian version
• 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
• (2 tbsp) oregano, (2 tsp) italian seasoning, (1 tbsp) basil
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• veggies
  • a green pepper, diced
  • 1.5 cups of fresh spinach, chopped
  • ½ zucchini squash, halved, then sliced
• 1 cup of alfredo sauce
• 1.5 cups of cheese: (1 cup of mozzarella/provolone, ½ cup of parmesan)

For the bread crumb mix:

• 1 cup italian bread crumbs
• ½ cup panko bread crumbs
• ⅓ cup parmesan cheese
• italian seasoning, for the top

Process

Go ahead and start off by getting your water boiling for your pasta and toss it in there with some salt and oil. Continue cooking that according to directions on the box.

Chop up the onion and mince the garlic, and set aside.

Drizzle some olive oil in a pan and let it heat up. Add the chicken sausage to the pan to brown and cook them.  You will have to kinda roll them around until they brown up on all sides.  I wasn’t too confident in the cooking time, so I used a meat thermometer to make sure the internal temperature was high enough.  The standard temp for cooked chicken should be 165, but since I knew that I would be baking it later, I wasn’t too stressed and I only waited for it to get to about 150ish degrees F.

Also, remember how I said that I did the half-easy way? Yeah...the full-easy tip #1 is to buy cooked chicken sausage.  Then you can skip this step.

Take the cooked chicken sausage out of the pan once their done and slice them up.  I like to slice it slanted a bit, because it makes it look fannnncyyyyy.  If you’re a vegetarian, feel free to skip the meat and it’ll still taste bangin’.

Nowwww, get a nice sized pan, heat up some olive oil, and add the chopped onion and minced garlic. Let that sizzle.

Add the can of crushed tomato and the seasonings: 2 tbsp of oregano, 1 tbsp of basil (I used fresh basil), 2 tsp of italian seasoning, and 1 tbsp of brown sugar, anddddd stir. Then, cover and let it come to a simmer.

This is also where super-easy tip #2 comes in: you can replace this part with your favorite jar of pasta sauce, instead of making it from scratch.

Ok, so...I’m totally like a mom to all my friends and I constantly try to sneak veggies in random dishes I’ll make.  Mostly because I’m spicing it up with so many different things that honestly? they’re not going to mind as much that they’re eating something healthy.

So once you prep the veggies (slice the zucchini, chop the spinach, dice the peppers)...

I sauteed the peppers and zucchini in a separate pan for a bit.  I never really like it when they’re too crunchy.  Then I added it all into the sauce: the chicken sausage and all the veggies (sauteed peppers and zucchini and the fresh spinach) and mix it all up.  The spinach will pretty much start wilting as soon as it touches the heat.  I sprinkled about 1 tbsp of salt on top of the spinach to release its liquids. Once it’s all done, add in a cup of alfredo sauce (just for a bit of creaminess) and the 1.5 cups of cheese and top it with some fresh basil.

Go ahead and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  By now your penne should be cooked al dente and drained, so go ahead and transfer that to a baking pan.  I like to oil the pan a little to make sure it doesn’t stick.

Pour the sauce directly on top of it and mix it in the pan.

Now for the crispy bread crumb crust on the top, we’ll layer the bread crumb mixture directly on top.  You can either mix together all the components (panko crumbs, italian bread crumbs, and cheese) in a bowl and then just evenly spread it out on top, or just sprinkle each as you go.  I sprinkled as a I went along, but this was the end result.

Then put it in the oven for about 20 minutes, until the cheese melts and the top is crispy.  Mine’s a bit overcooked in the picture because I got distracted by the Game of Thrones finale. Sorry, not sorry, guys; if you watch GoT, you completely understand.

And, there you have it! An amazingly delicious baked pasta that can be thrown together in a jiffy.

---

Easy Cheesy Baked Penne

Prep Time: 15 min  |  Cook Time: 20 min  |  Yields: 8 servings

Ingredients

• 16 oz. box of whole-wheat penne
• half an onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pack of Trader Joe's Sun Dried Tomato-Basil Chicken Sausage (~5 links), optional for vegetarian
• 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
• 2 tbsp oregano, or to taste
• 2 tsp italian seasoning, or to taste
• 1 tbsp basil
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• veggies
  • a green pepper, diced
  • 1.5 cups of fresh spinach, chopped
  • 1/2 zucchini squash, halved then sliced
• 1 cup of alfredo sauce
• 1.5 cups of cheese: 1 cup of mozzarella/provolone, 1/2 cup of parmesan

For the bread crumb crust:

• 1 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
• Italian seasoning, for the top

Process

1. Cook the pasta, as per instructions on the box.
2. Chop up the onion and mince the garlic and set aside.
3. Drizzle some olive oil in a pan and brown the chicken sausage.
4. Slice the cooked sausage after it cools down just a bit.
5. In a larger pan, heat up some olive oil and add the chopped onion and minced garlic.
6. Add the can of crushed tomatoes and the seasonings: 2 tbsp of oregano, 1 tbsp of basil, 2 tsp of Italian seasoning, and 1 tbsp of brown sugar. Stir. Then, cover and let it come to a simmer.
7. Chop up some veggies: slice a zucchini, chop the fresh spinach, and dice the green pepper.
8. Sautée the zucchini and green pepper and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
9. Add everything into the sauce: the sliced chicken sausage, the sautéed veggies, and the fresh spinach.  Add a sprinkle of salt on top of the spinach and mix well.
10. At the end, add a cup of alfredo sauce and the 1.5 cups of cheeses.
11. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
12. Lightly oil a baking pan and put in all the al dente cooked pasta in it.
13. Add the sauce on top and mix directly in the pan.
14. For the crust, sprinkle the panko crumbs, Italian bread crumbs, and cheese as a top layer of the pasta.
15. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the cheese melts and the top is crispy.
16. Then, EATING TIME!