Mommy Meal Monday: Easy Cheesy Bake

Yesterday night I needed to cook something up quick so I raided the pantry for odds and end ingredients. I came up with a easy pasta dish that I baked in the oven. In fact I whipped it up together so fast I didn't even think about documenting it properly for the blog! I thought about it as I was pouring it into the pan to go into the ove, so sorry about the lack of pictures. If you want to try it out here is what you need.

• 16 ounces pasta. Any type will do, I used bowtie.
• About 3 cups of pasta sauce. I used Prego Traditional. You can add more or less depending on how saucy you like it.
• 3 cups of shredded cheese. I used a 4 blend mexican shred.
• 8 ounces ricotta cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• Paprika ( optional)
• Preheat your oven to 400

After cooking pasta on stovetop ( take it off right before it gets soft) mix it with the ricotta cheese, 2 cups of the shredded cheese, pasta sauce, salt and pepper.  Mix until totally blended up and pour into your 13 x 9 baking dish. Then pour the remaining 1 cup of shredded cheese over the top and spread it evenly. This will become crispy while baking so that the top of your pasta dish has a nice cheesy crunch.

Then just for kicks I sprinkled paprika all over the top of the dish. Then pop it into your preheated oven. After about 20-25 minutes, it will be nice and hot with a bubbly baked top. Its kind of like a lasagne casserole...thats what comes to mind when I ate it.

Yummy and quick, I promise!