Baked Pasta e Fagioli
(Inspired by Poor Girl Eats Well)
As a poor, hungry, lazy-cook vegetarian, I scanned my shelves tonight trying to figure out a way to use stuff I already had and yet make something yummy for dinner. I spied a box of pasta I had gotten for free with a coupon (Yay, free!) and a long-past-date can of navy beans. I immediately thought of pasta e fagioli, but strangely I was not in the mood for soup. Please note that I will refine this recipe as my mood and budget allows, and probably do things like sautee onions and garlic and maybe some other vegetables to put in this. But still, what I came up with was pretty good. So here's what I did:
Cooked about 2/3 a box of rotini.
While it was cooking I chopped up some olives and marinated artichoke hearts, and rinsed and drained the can of navy beans, and drained a can of Rotel.
Put all of the above into a 9x13 casserole dish, and poured pasta sauce over the whole thing, and mixed it in. (I figured it was okay that I didn't sautee onions and garlic because I used "garlic and onion" pasta sauce, along with some plain.)
Covered the dish with foil and baked it at... I think it was 375F for about 1/2 hour.
Then I took off the foil and crumbled sliced of pepper jack cheese over the top. (Obviously mozzarella would be preferable, but that's not what I happen to have on hand right now.)
Put it back in for about 3 1/2- 4 minutes, and voila!
BTW, I had gotten the Rotel marked down at Target for 44 cents , and the can of olives on the markdown shelf at Stop & Shop for 89 cents, and the can of beans had been sitting around forever, so this was very budget-friendly, as well.
(x-posted to veggieslackers)
As a poor, hungry, lazy-cook vegetarian, I scanned my shelves tonight trying to figure out a way to use stuff I already had and yet make something yummy for dinner. I spied a box of pasta I had gotten for free with a coupon (Yay, free!) and a long-past-date can of navy beans. I immediately thought of pasta e fagioli, but strangely I was not in the mood for soup. Please note that I will refine this recipe as my mood and budget allows, and probably do things like sautee onions and garlic and maybe some other vegetables to put in this. But still, what I came up with was pretty good. So here's what I did:
Cooked about 2/3 a box of rotini.
While it was cooking I chopped up some olives and marinated artichoke hearts, and rinsed and drained the can of navy beans, and drained a can of Rotel.
Put all of the above into a 9x13 casserole dish, and poured pasta sauce over the whole thing, and mixed it in. (I figured it was okay that I didn't sautee onions and garlic because I used "garlic and onion" pasta sauce, along with some plain.)
Covered the dish with foil and baked it at... I think it was 375F for about 1/2 hour.
Then I took off the foil and crumbled sliced of pepper jack cheese over the top. (Obviously mozzarella would be preferable, but that's not what I happen to have on hand right now.)
Put it back in for about 3 1/2- 4 minutes, and voila!
BTW, I had gotten the Rotel marked down at Target for 44 cents , and the can of olives on the markdown shelf at Stop & Shop for 89 cents, and the can of beans had been sitting around forever, so this was very budget-friendly, as well.
(x-posted to veggieslackers)