Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Hoping all is great in your neck of the woods.
We have been so busy that I just finally got the time to try this recipe with the kids. I swear spring time is busier than winter time.
Anyway, we have been on a pizza fit lately, but I didn’t feel like ordering out. I wanted to try something different. Something that if I didn’t cook, the kids could easily step in and cook for themselves. They are at that age.
I want to be upfront: They know how to cook, but I run this blog. It’s a food blog. Means I cook majority of the time. Not as much as I did when I started writing this blog, but I still do majority of the cooking. I write this to warn folks, we don’t judge parents on this blog, nor leave mcjudgy comments. Koo? Koo.
In any event, what happens when you combine pasta and pizza? This recipe.
I saw it reading for class and as usual looked over the ingredients. Seemed like it worked, minus the olives. We really don’t do olives.
Here’s the original:
Pepperoni Pizza Casserole
1 pound ground beef
1 (8 ounce) package uncooked egg noodles
1 (2,25 ounces) can sliced black olives, drained
1 (2.5 ounces) can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 (8 ounce) packaged sliced pepperoni, coarsely chopped
20 ounces mozzarella cheese, divided
- Preheat your oven at 375 degrees (190 degrees Celsius).
- Cook the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat until no longer pink., breaking the meat apart into crumbles as it cooks, about 10 minutes.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a rolling boil, Cook the egg noodles in the boiling water until cooked through yet slightly firm, about 5 minutes, drain.
- Mix the noodles with the beef, spaghetti, black olives, mushrooms, pepperoni, and 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese in a large mixing bowl. Spoon the mixture into a 9×13 inch baking dish and top with remaining cheese. Cover the dish with foil.
- Bake in preheater over until casserole is bubbling, 30 to 45 minutes.
Now, y’all know me. I read this thinking it’s missing a lot, and those olives can go. Here’s MY recipe:
2 pounds ground turkey
1 Large bag of egg noodles, uncooked
2 jars of three cheese or extra chunky garden spaghetti sauce
1 can (13 ounce) diced tomatoes
2 jars of sliced mushrooms, drained
2 bags of mini pepperoni
1 package of turkey pepperoni
1 Large bag of fiesta (Colby jack/mozzarella) cheese
minced onion
garlic salt
crushed red pepper
Italian seasoning
- Preheat your oven to 375
- Boil a large pot of water, then add egg noodles. Cook until slightly firm. Drain.
- Brown ground turkey. Season with garlic salt and minced onion. Break up into smaller pieces. remove from heat once cooked throughly.
- In a large bowl, mix noodles, meat, mini pepperoni, mushrooms, diced tomatoes, 1/2 of the bag of cheese and spaghetti sauce together.
- Spray a baking dish with non stick spray (I use olive oil).
- Transfer the mixture to the pan. Top with remaining cheese and big pepperonis.
- Bake for 45 minutes.
Now I served this with cucumber tomato salad (recipe for that is coming), and five cheese Texas toast. My crew are cheese fiends. The more cheese the better. You don’t need that much, but tell me this, what child do you know who hates extra cheese on their pizza? Don’t Worry, I’ll wait.
Now, where I flubbed was with the red pepper. I put too much in there for Xan. Brandon and Annie liked it as is. They did request I drain more of the mushrooms. I was worried it would be dry, but no worries. If that’s the only changes, and everyone liked it, a win is a win as the young folks say.
Bonus: half a pan was left, so it will be dinner Saturday with the choices of Beef Stew and Burgers/Fries. No cooking this weekend!
The cucumber tomato salad is really easy. Originally it has onions too, but my kids HATE onions! So I modified the recipe. If you want the onions, just cut up a whole onion in halves and add to the recipe. Here’s the recipe!:
4 cucumbers, sliced
3 beefsteak tomatoes, cut into six pieces (look at picture)
1 large bottle Italian Dressing
- combine all ingredients into a bowl or ziplog freezer bag.
- refrigerate overnight to marinade (we do two nights. The longer the better but no longer than 4 days.
Try it out and let me know what you think!
~CSM~