I love making this dish for my family. This dish takes 15 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to bake, less than 30 minutes for a delicious family feast. One of the best parts of this recipe is that you can substitute different kinds of pasta, vegetables, and cheeses. So there can be many variations of this recipe. Enjoy!
INGREDIENTS
- 16 ounces brown rice pasta. (I used the Tinyada brand) substitutions: elbow, penne, other small kinds of pastas
- 1 olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground beef. substitutions: ground turkey
- 1/2 cup chopped yellow/brown onion
- 1 medium tomato diced
- 2 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (14-ounce) can crushed tomatoes (do not drain)
- 1 cup of frozen peas. substitutions: bell pepper, green beans, broccoli.
- 1 teaspoon dried leaf basil
- 1 teaspoon dried leaf oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder or 2 garlic minced garlic cloves
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese. substitution: three cheese blend, cheddar cheese.
- 3-quart baking dish
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a pot, boil the water and follow the instructions of how to cook the brown rice pasta. The way to cook brown rice pasta is entirely different from regular pasta.
- In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 3-quart baking dish with butter. In a large pan over medium heat, add the olive oil and saute the ground beef, onions, and garlic. Cook until the ground beef is cooked and the onion is tender. Add the peas and cook for one minute.
- Drain off the excess fat. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, basil, oregano, pepper, and salt. Bring to a simmer for 5 minutes occasionally stirring.
Stir in the pasta. Then transfer the whole mixture to the baking dish. Add the mozzarella cheese on top. - Bake the dish in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
