Roasted Pepper & Sausage Rigatoni Bowtie Pasta

by Heather Belcher

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 35 minutes

Makes: 8 servings

3 cups uncooked rigatoni pasta

1 lb. bulk Italian sausage

1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes (undrained)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. dried basil

1 package fresh sliced mushrooms

1 (7 oz) jar roasted red peppers, drained & chopped

1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

2 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Crumble & cook Italian sausage.  Drain off fat and set aside.  Cook rigatoni pasta al dente.  Mix tomatoes, basil, and garlic.

Preheat oven to 375.

In greased casserole dish, layer half each of pasta, sausage, mushrooms, roasted peppers, parmesan, tomato mixture, and mozzarella.  Repeat layers, leaving off last layer of mozzarella.  Bake 30 minutes uncovered.  Top with remaining mozzarella.  Bake 5-10 minutes more or until cheese is melted.

I seriously didn’t think my kids would eat much of this. It was kind of one of those meals I expected to just make once to expose my kids to other foods. I didn’t even take a pic of it until halfway through, when Cami said, “Mom can you make this again, just without mushrooms.” I didn’t put a lot of mushrooms and left them sliced bigger so they would be easy to pick out because I figured they would complain about that, but the red peppers were covered by the tomato sauce and they didn’t even notice them. Overall, it was a lot like the baked spaghetti that I make, but peppers do give it a nice added flavor. So I do think I will leave out the mushrooms next time since, what is the point to put them all in, just to be picked out?