I am trying to make room in my freezer since I have so many frozen foods to use up. I had defrosted some ground turkey and a slice of peanut butter pie that I must have stored in the freezer last time I had leftovers. How lucky was I to find that?! I actually ate the peanut butter pie for breakfast today at work ;) I will need to post the recipe for the peanut butter pie next time I make it because it is so good! So back to the ground turkey...I decided a baked pasta sounded good. I had some leftover tomato sauce already in my fridge. Sometimes baking a pasta dish takes up to 30 to 45 minutes, but I made it easy by just broiling the cheese on top of the cooked pasta and that only took 5 minutes in the toaster oven. So if you are short on time, here is an easy baked penne with turkey for you.
Ingredients
½ pound dry
penne pasta (I used a whole grain penne, you can choose whatever pasta you like.)
½ pound ground turkey
2 cups crushed tomato sauce
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon italian seasoning
½ teaspoon parsley
¼ teaspoon red chili flakes
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup parmesan cheese, grated
½ cup shredded mozzarella/provolone cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
Directions
For the pasta:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a
boil. Add the pasta and cook until
al dente, about 9 minutes. Drain pasta.
For the ground turkey
and sauce:
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet/pan on
medium high heat. Add in ground
turkey and stir to break up and brown meat. Add in salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Stir in tomato sauce. Add italian seasoning and parsley. Simmer on medium low heat for about 5 to 10 minutes.
In the same pan, add in the drained pasta. Stir in parmesan cheese and ¼ cup
shredded cheese.
Turn on toaster (oven) broiler. I used my toaster oven since it was faster!
Place pasta in a baking dish. I used 2 mini baking dishes but an 8x8 square baking dish
would also work. Top with remaining ¼ cup of shredded
cheese. Bake in broiler for about
5 minutes or until cheese is slightly browned and melted.
I served this with a side of green beans.
Serves 2-4.
Enjoy!
