Meatless Mondays – Pasta Bake

This is one of those meals that I just threw together last minute with ingredients I had on hand.

I made it for a potluck at a friend’s house on Halloween. Right before I put it in the oven I thought “hey, why don’t I take a photo in case it tastes good and is worth sharing”.

The dish did turn out really tasty and, like lasagna, tasted even better when the left-overs were reheated later.

Now, I’ll try to recall what I threw together in case anyone wants to try to duplicate it. Adjust according to taste and dependent on what you have available. For example, if I had had mushrooms, I definitely would’ve added them to this dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb pasta
• 1 yellow onion chopped
• 1/2 green bell pepper chopped into small pieces
• 1/2 red bell pepper chopped into small pieces
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1/8 cup chopped olives (optional)
• 1 package Yves ground veggie meat
• bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cook pasta according to directions and drain.

3. While pasta cooks, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan, add onion and let cook over medium-high heat until translucent (I tend to add a lot of onion to my dishes – adjust according to your taste).

4. Add bell pepper, veggie meat, garlic, tomato sauce (use more if you’d like the bake to be “saucier” – that wasn’t my goal here, but I think it would also taste good), olives, stir together and continue to heat.

5. Let simmer approximately 10 minutes and stir in pasta.

6. Turn off heat and stir in 1/2 package of Daiya Mozzerella Style Shreds.

7. Pour into a 9×12 baking dish.

8. Sprinkle a thin layer of bread crumbs along top and then top that with remainder of the Daiya shreds.

9. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake for 10 more minutes.

Enjoy,
~ Lita