Taco Pasta Bake

I have allowed Jordan to be in charge of grocery shopping for the past couple of weeks, which has been nice that I haven’t had to go shopping, but tends to lead to having weird food around the house as he does not seem to understand the following a list or buying more just what he needs for one meal. But, god love him!

 
My garden is still growing a plethora of tomatoes so I made a tomato sauce the other day just by simmering olive oil, onions, tomatoes, garlic, carrots, pepper, oregano, basil and Italian spices. I was trying to think of what to do with the sauce (other than just make pasta), so obviously I went to my ‘go to’ … Pinterest.

There I saw this picture I had pinned a while ago of “15 minute Tacosagna” from Graceland blog, and I was inspired.

From that image/ recipe I created a “Taco Pasta Casserole Bake” as I have so called it

Taco Pasta Bake

• 1 box whole grain pasta (I used Penne Pasta)

1 can refried beans

4 cups tomato sauce

1 tablespoon taco seasoning (I used low sodium)

1 jar salsa

2 cup corn

3 jalapenos – diced

1 green pepper – diced

1 red pepper - diced

1 cup spinach, frozen

2 cups kidney beans, drained

1 package light cream cheese (8oz)

1 cup Mexican cheese or pepper jack

2 baking pans

1. Cook pasta until al dente. Drain. 

2. Preheat oven to 350*

3. Spread the refried beans along the bottom of the baking dishes

 4. Mix everything else besides the cheese together (tomato sauce, salsa, corn, peppers, jalapenos, spinach, kidney beans, and taco seasoning) either directly into the baking pans or in a seperate bowl.  - I personally just mixed it all in the baking pan but it was a bit full!

5. Split sauce between the two baking pans.

6.  Cut in the cream cheese in small amounts throughout the sauce 

7. Add in pasta and mix!

8. Cover with cheese. (We had some pepper jack cubes on hand so I just cut them in half and sprinkled them on top.)

9. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until bubbley and delicious! 

Jordan insisted on eating it with a tortilla because I called it a "Taco" pasta... but really the pasta should be adequate carbs!