Pasta Bake

Pasta bake is one of our family's favorites and honestly I get requests for the recipe all the time.  The great thing about this meal is that it's easy, doesn't require a lot of extra work if you are making a larger portion AND you can use it as a freezer meal if you want!  Often times, I'll double the recipe and make one for dinner and then freeze the other.

 Recipe 

(If you're using a 9x13 pan double the recipe)

Ingredients
- 8 Oz Penne pasta noodles, cooked al dente and strained
- 1/2 lb ground beef, cooked (I season with dried minced onions and seasoning salt)
- 1 Jar pasta sauce
- 8 Slices provolone cheese
- 1/3 Cup sour cream
- 1/3 Cup grated mozzarella or parmesan cheese

 First, line your baking dish with foil.  It makes for REALLY easy clean up!

Put a thin layer of sauce at the bottom of the foil to keep the noodles from sticking. 

 Put half of your cooked noodles in the pan.

 Then layer half of your ground beef.

 Cover with half of your sauce.

Use 4 slices of your provolone cheese to make a nice yummy layer.

 Then spread your sour cream over the top.

Now here I don't stick to the same order, but that's only because I like the noodles to be on top so it's a more smooth layer, but you could do it either way.  SO I put the rest of the ground in the dish. 

Then the rest of the noodles. 

The rest of your sauce. 

 4 more slices of provolone cheese.

 And then top it with your grated mozzarella or parmesan cheese

 Bake at 350 for 45 min, or until your cheese is nice and bubbly and browning a bit.  

So easy and so good!  If you are wanting to make it a freezer meal, instead of baking it, place it in the freezer.  Then when you want to use it, either defrost is in your fridge overnight and still bake it at 350 for 45 minutes, OR if it's still frozen, bake it at 350 for 1 1/2 hours, but cover it with foil until the last 30-45 minutes, then remove the foil.  That way your cheese doesn't get too browned.  Enjoy!