December 7, 2009

What's Cookin': Mexican Pasta Bake

Ok, the only thing about this that makes it "Mexican" is the seasoning packet. But I needed a name and that worked. If anyone comes up with a better one, pass it along! This is my own recipe I made up tonight and it turned out super yummy. Even the boys asked for seconds - and getting them to eat anything other than cheese, crackers and apples has become almost impossible. So I say it was a very huge success.

Mexican Pasta Bake
1/2 lb ground turkey (or beef, turkey was on sale) - 1.25
1 lb pasta - .89
1 bell pepper, chopped - .75
1/4 C onion, chopped - .06
1 Chicken Taco seasoning packet - .98
1 C tomato sauce - .24
1 C shredded cheddar cheese - 1.44

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook pasta according to package. Be sure to adds lots of salt to your water to flavor the pasta. While that's cooking, heat a large pan and either spray with cooking spray, or coat with oil. Add your turkey and cook until browned. Drain if there is too much extra liquid. Add the peppers and onions, cooking until they are tender. Add seasoning packet, along with any water the packet calls for.

When pasta is done, drain and return to pot. Stir in turkey mix, tomato sauce, and about half the cheese. Spread in a greased casserole dish, top with remaining cheese and pop in the oven for about 20 - 30 min, or until the cheese is just starting to bubble and crisp.

Total: 5.61

Variations: Like I said, you can use beef or whatever's on sale. You could also make it with shredded chicken or pork. Or try some extra veggies. If you like spicy you can add hot sauce or a can of hot diced chilis. All these would increase the price of course, but would be good in any variation.

This made enough for two helpings for me (I was hungry), two helpings  for each of the boys (comes out to two adult size portions) one for Ben and plenty left over for lunch for everyone tomorrow. I would say 8 or more portions, depending in the size. 5.61 for two meals worth!

3 comments:

Farm Girl said...

It looks yummy!! I am glad you are posting your recipes. Now I don't have to ask you for them.
I think my boys would love it too.

See ya on Wednesday!!

Kessie said...

Mm, that looks really good. I might give it a try for dinner tonight.

One way to make your food photos look really appetizing is to dump them into some image program and crank the saturation and contrast way, way up. Bright colors = yummy! Gray = not so much. It's why candy comes in brightly-colored bags and pills come in plain white bottles.

Meg said...

Eh, I would have messed with it but I was trying to get the recipe up before I forgot it! Lol. I'm hoping to get batteries tonight though, so I won't really need to mess with them much once I have a camera again.

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