Meatless Monday: Family Pasta Bake

What do you do with all the odds and ends of pasta in your cupboard? Turn them into a huge, healthy meal to serve your extended family when they all come over. That’s what I did recently, and kids and adults all loved it (even the meat lovers). Here’s how: Cook up your spare bits of pasta. If it’s longer shapes such as spaghetti, break it into smaller pieces, which will work well with penne and fusilli. You don’t want to boil it all in one pot together though; put pastas of similar thicknesses together in the pot, and when it’s done remove it with a straining spoon and add the other types of pasta to cook. Meanwhile, cut up a couple of onions and a few cloves of garlic, a couple of sweet peppers (I used yellow and red), lots of mushrooms and a couple of zucchini. When the pasta is all cooked, dump it into your large casserole and stir in some olive oil. Add all of the vegetables and stir it some more. Then put in two large cans of whole tomatoes (sauce and all) and roughly break them up. Sprinkle on whatever herbs you want–I had fresh basil on hand and put in a lot (I didn’t bother to chop it, just used the whole leaves). Cover the dish with foil, and put it into a 325-degree oven. After about 30 minutes, take the foil off, and add some fresh mozzarella or any cheese you’d like. (You don’t need a whole lot; it’s just the finishing touch.) Put the dish back in the oven, uncovered, for about another 20 minutes. And that’s dinner, done. (Plus leftovers for a few lunches!)