Baked Pasta

Pasta tastes better baked. It's just scientific fact. (At least according to this guy it is.) That's why for this post, we're going to bake some pasta. Not only is it an easy way to make pasta and tomato sauce taste better, it also adds in a couple extra servings of vegetables.

 Ingredients:

-Pasta sauce

-Pasta of choice

-Cheese

-Onion

-Bell Pepper

-Garlic

Optional:

-Tomatoes

-Sun Dried Tomatoes

-Sugar

-Frozen vegetables

 1. Start out by pre-heating the oven to 350 degrees and boiling a pot of water. 


Once this is done, dice the garlic, onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, and sun dried tomatoes. 


Don't worry if the alarm goes off or if the water starts boiling while you're chopping. Those can be left alone for a while without any problems.

 2. Heat up a pan and add some olive oil. Once the pan is hot enough, add the garlic then the onions. Let the onions sweat. (They'll turn clear when they're ready.)


If the water is boiling at this point, add the pasta to the water and set the timer to what the recommended cooking time.

3. Drain as soon as the timer goes off, then set it aside in your baking dish.

 4. Add the remaining vegetables to the pan such as the bell pepper, tomatoes, and sun-dried tomatoes.

5. Once the bell peppers soften or the tomatoes break down and give up their juice, add the pasta sauce.

Let the sauce simmer on medium-low for about seven minutes.

You can also add a little sugar if the sauce is too acidic at this point.

6. Pour the sauce into the baking dish and mix with the pasta you've set aside earlier.

7. Smooth out the top a and add the cheese of your choice.

Then cover the dish with foil and bake it in the oven for 10 minutes. Once this is done you need to remove the foil and bake it for another five minutes.

Remove the dish from the oven and let it sit for a few minutes before cutting in.

There you have it: Baked pasta in all its gooey cheesy glory!

A slice of baked pasta.