Johnny Marzetti

For some odd reason, I was craving Johnny Marzetti this past weekend. I haven't had it since I was little so when I sat down to make my grocery list, I only recalled three ingredients...pasta, marinara sauce, and cheese (lots of it)!  I looked up a couple recipes online and ended up taking little bit from all of them to create this meal.  It was a nice change of pace from our usual weekend menu!

Serves: 6

1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of tomato sauce
1/2 pound of ground turkey
1/8 - 1/4 pound of chicken sausage (I used Trader Joe's brand which just needed diced up - already cooked)
1 green pepper
1/4 cup celery (chopped finely)
1 garlic clove (minced)
1/2 onion (diced)
1/2 tsp chili powder (more or less to taste)
Rigatoni pasta
shredded cheddar cheese (approximately 1 cup)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Boil water and add pasta.  Cook pasta according to directions on the back of the packaging.  You want the pasta to be al dente.  Once pasta is done, pour into colander and rinse with cold water to prevent pasta from cooking further. Meanwhile, brown turkey in a saucepan (approximately 7 minutes).  Add onions, garlic, green pepper, and celery.  Saute for five minutes.  Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken sausage, and chili pepper.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  In a large casserole dish (I used a lasagna pan), pour pasta in the bottom.  sprinkle half of cheese over pasta and reserve other half for the topping.  Pour meat mixture over the pasta.  Top with remaining cheese.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Allow dish to cool for several minutes before serving. 

- Miss J