Baked Pasta with Tomatoes

Submitted by Julia Jutras

Here’s one of my favorite easy pasta dishes. Except for the cheese and the meat, the ingredients are good for food storage staples. And it tastes good with just the pasta, oil, salt and tomatoes. However if you do find yourself eating out of just food storage with very little meat then increase the oil to 1/3 cup. The extra fat will help to keep you healthy. When doubling this recipe you will have to use 2 casserole dishes, it grows as it cooks.

Serves 4

½ lb Penne Pasta
¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (reduce to 2 Tbsp for low-fat version)
½ tsp Salt
2- 28oz cans Diced Tomatoes
¼ cup Parmesan Cheese
2 cups Small Meatballs or Italian Sausage cooked and crumbled or Precooked Chicken Breast Sliced (Optional)
1 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded (Optional)

Preheat oven to 400.

In a 3quart Casserole dish toss pasta noodles with olive oil. Let sit for at least 20 min. Stir tomatoes, salt, parmesan cheese and meat (if using) into noodles. Cover with aluminum foil. Place dish in oven and bake for 45 – 60 min, stirring every 15 min. When noodles are tender remove foil and sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the top. Bake for additional 5 min until cheese is melted and bubbly.