What We Ate: Turkey Pasta Bake

Wow, it’s Tuesday but it feels like Monday and my brain is still scrambled from the time change. That being said, I’m keeping it really light and sharing a super yummy recipe I made a few weeks back. This is a spin on my favorite spaghetti sauce / baked pasta recipe. Kind of a goulash, kind of like hamburger helper but without the hamburger and all home made! 🙂

What you need

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 3 stalks celery, diced small
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 tsp garlic
• 3 fresh tomatoes diced (optional)
• 1 can of pasta sauce – I love Hunts
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1 box elbow noodles
• 1 cup shredded cheese (any variety works – we just had cheddar and a little mozzarella on hand)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 375. Then start by browning your ground turkey in a little bit of olive oil – seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Since turkey is SO lean, no need to drain off the excess fat (unless for some reason there is a large amount.) To the meat, add your chopped onion, garlic & celery and give the veggies a couple minutes to soften up. Next, add in your Italian seasoning, chopped tomatoes and tomato sauce. Stir this all up and give it about 20 minutes or so to cook and bubble on medium heat. I always add a lid slightly open because this stuff makes a mess if it pops and bubbles too much. Spaghetti sauce all over the stovetop = no bueno.

While that is cooking, get your pasta water boiling and cook your noodles per the package instructions minus 2 minutes. You want your noodles cooked but al dente because you’re going to bake them and avoiding overly mushy noodles is important. Once those are finished up, drain and dump into the sauce. Mix week so everything is incorporated and coated well.

Grab a baking dish – I used a 2-quart standard size. I added some no stick spray and loaded in the goods. Top this with approximately 1 cup of shredded cheese (or more, because cheese is life.)

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes and the cheese is bubbling and golden brown.

Mom approved, dad approved, Dane approved. Enjoy!