What You Need:
Between 1 1/2 lbs and 2 1/2 lbs of ground beef or sweet ground up sausage or you could do a lb of each of meat
2 jars of your favorite marinara pasta sauce we like ragu
1 lb of your favorite pasta noodle (ziti, rigatoni, macaroni, or spiral pasta are all good ones)
3 zucchini’s chopped green and yellow
3/4 of a sweet onion finely chopped
4 – 5 tablespoons of Olive oil
1 heaping tablespoon of jarred minced garlic
2 cups of Mozzarella cheese or extra depending on your cheesy level
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
Steps:
1. Heat up a large skillet while you chop your onion, and zucchini. Once skillet is heated through add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the onion, zucchini, and garlic until soft. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Then set aside.
2. Cook pasta as directed in a large pot. (Tip: once the water begins to boil, add a few dashes of salt. THEN add your pasta. That will flavor your pasta) Once cooked, drain your water, and add the pasta to a 9 x 13 baking dish.
2. In the same skillet you cooked your veggies, add your meat. If using ground beef season as you normally would (I like to use salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, a little turmeric, and maybe a little oregano.) If you’re using the sausage you don’t need to season, should already be seasoned. Once cooked, drain fat if needed.
3. Add the veggies to the meat and mix well. Add both jars of pasta to the meat and veggie sauce, reserving about 1/2 cup of sauce. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the sauce and a tablespoon of Italian seasoning mix. Allow the sauce to cook for just of minutes or until heated through.
4. Add the reserved pasta sauce to the naked pasta in the baking dish and mix well. Along with a tablespoon of olive oil.
5. Next add the meaty and veggie sauce to the pasta and mix well. Then add in 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, give or take and mix well.
6. Once fully mixed, top with the rest of the Parmesan cheese and then top with the remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake at 375 for 25 mins covered with foil. Once the 25 minutes is completed, removed foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
7. Allow to sit for a few minutes, garnish with fresh parsley (optional ) and serve with your favorite crusty bread with unsalted butter.
Enjoy!!!
The Wild Gems 