February 10, 2011

Best All-time Pasta Bake!

As I'm sure you can all tell, my family and I love pasta.  We have it at least twice a week, and sometimes more often.  My son Chase is a HUGE fan of pasta with Alfredo sauce, and you can find his favorite recipe here:  Awesome Alfredo Sauce.  I am a big fan of tomato based sauces, and this recipe brings the 2 together in what is probably the best, simple and quick, very adaptable pasta casserole ever!
Have I mentioned that I am a huge fan of Cavatappi pasta?  Love it!  I use it almost exclusively in place of all tube pasta's.  The reasons I love this pasta are many, but the main 2 are the denseness(?) or thickness, and the cute curly design-lol!  And truly this pasta holds sauce really well, so it makes each bite more substantial-yuuum!
This type of pasta is a bit difficult to find in my local grocery store's, so I purchase it on Amazon...I know, who purchases pasta from them, right?  Racconto Cavatappi Pasta and it's a really decent price!

ALFREDO TOMATO LAYERED PASTA BAKE
12 oz. Cavatappi Pasta, cooked al dente, according to 
package directions, and drained
1 (24 oz.) jar pasta sauce, your favorite type
1 (16 oz.) jar Alfredo pasta sauce
1 (8 oz.) package creamed cheeses, softened
1/3 c. milk
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
2 c. shredded Mozzarella cheese


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl combine the 2 pasta sauces, making sure they are well incorporated.
In a second mixing bowl combine the softened cream cheese, milk, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.  You may want to add a bit more milk if the cream cheese is still really thick.  The consistency should be close to sour cream.
In a 9 x 13 baking dish that has been lightly coated with non-stick cooking spray, place 1/2 c. mixed pasta sauce and spread over bottom of dish. Place 1/2 of the cooked pasta into the dish, then pour 1/2 of the remaining sauce over noodles.  Lightly spread the cream cheese mix over the pasta & sauce, layer remaining pasta on top, then remaining sauce, and finish by sprinkling the shredded cheese over the top.
Loosely cover with foil and back for 30-35 min. until hot and bubbly around the edges.
Cook 5-10 minutes then serve.



Isn't this a great pasta?

Note:  You can use any tube pasta in place of the Cavatappi, and think about adding cooked chicken, hamburger, broccoli, or other ingredients your family would like between the layers of pasta.  I use rotisserie  chicken often, and I love to layer cooked spinach in this as well.  

Source:  Adapted from Betty Crocker recipe

4 comments:

  1. I'm stopping by for the first time :) This pasta dish looks great...we, too, are HUGE pasta fans!!! I've never seen this type of pasta, but will now be on the lookout!!! ~Rachel
    http://rachelvsthekitchen.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm stopping by for the first time :) This pasta dish looks great...

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  3. Happened upon this recipe tonight and am about to pop it in the oven. Doctored it up a bit because we didnt have some items and wanted to add meat -- omitted the alfredo sauce, added some quartered meatballs to the red sauce, grated parmagiano reggiano to the top, grated fresh garlic and dried sweet basil to the cream cheese mixture -- but other than that -- kept as is! Cannot wait to try this. Thanks so much for the recipe! Keep cooking!
    Autumn

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  4. I made this for dinner tonight but added cooked ground beef & left the rest of the recipe the same.

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