I have a confession to make: I’ve been looking forward to this meal all week long. In fact, the last thing I said to LeeLee before we went to sleep last night was, “I can’t wait to have baked penne tomorrow night.” (He’s used to this sort of thing, so he just said “Me neither, good night,” and turned out the light.)
So when we got home from work tonight, I got into the kitchen and got moving. First I boiled some water and cooked the penne, and when that was done, I put a bag of Morningstar Farm burger crumbles (sometimes I used sliced vegetarian sausage, but tonight I was in the mood for “beef”) in the bottom of a lasagna pan and poured the drained pasta on top. I mixed them together with a jar of pasta sauce until everything was thoroughly coated and then topped the penne with a blend of Daiya mozzarella and cheddar cheese.
At that point, the hands-on work was done! All I had to do from there was put the lasagna pan in the oven and bake it at 350 for about 25 minutes. By then, the Daiya was melted and the once-frozen burger crumbles were piping hot! Some of the penne along the sides of the pan had gotten crispy, too, which I love. (If you don’t care for said crispiness, just put a sheet of foil over the top of your pan before baking!)
I’m not a bit ashamed to tell you that between the two of us, we cleaned out one half of the pan at dinner tonight. The other half will likely be dinner tomorrow night, since I’ll be getting home late and LeeLee will be getting home early. A role reversal!
:)