Not your regular pasta dish...

I am very excited to share this recipe with you- We have had a crazy weekend of good food here... Even though I didn't feel well most of the time- the food that I could eat was ridiculous... Ex: Last night for supper I happened to catch an episode of eat street before I started cooking- and saw a burger they called the "I haz a cheezburger" -which is basically two grilled cheese sandwiches with a burger in between- Kev ate it- I couldn't, but it looked amazing!
Today for breakfast we had roasted potatoes, and fried eggs topped with green onions and cheese. Lunch- was Belgian waffles- Kev's favourite... They were great I just cant ever eat waffles- not my thing.
And today for supper, is what I am about to share with you, with lots of pictures:)

Picture 1: These are part of the ingredients you need for this layered take on lasagna. I have a box of whole wheat and whole grain penne pasta cooked. In the bowl there is one spicy sausage and 1/2 pound of ground sirloin browned in olive oil, and seasoned with Italian seasonings, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. The sausage will give you a lot of flavour- and will also be the flavour base for you veggies to come.

The veggies are 1 c of chopped cremini mushrooms, 1/2 of yellow pepper sliced, and 1/2 of a red pepper sliced, 1 medium onion diced, 4 garlic cloves minced. 

After I sauteed my meat- I put it into a bowl lined with paper towel to soak up the extra fat. I used the same pan for my veggies. I started by sauteing my onion for about 3-4 minutes, added garlic for 1- and added the rest of the veggies as well as salt, pepper, and Italian seasonings to taste- until everything was soft and lovely.

Then on to part 2:

You will need: 2 c of shredded part skim mozzarella. 1/2 of fresh Parmesan, 1 can of tomato sauce- no seasonings added, no salt added, 1/2 brick of cream cheese softened.

Then the layering process began:

In a 2.5 L dish I layered about 1/4 c of tomato sauce on the bottom of the dish and 1/3 of my cooked penne. On top I spread out the cooked veggies. Then...

I layered some sauce, more penne, mozzarella, the meat  mixture, and 1/4 of an 8 ounce brick of cream cheese and I sprinkled on a bit more Italian seasonings. 

The final layer is the last of the penne, the rest of the sauce, the other 1/4 c of cream cheese, the rest of the mozzarella, and 1/2 c of Parmesan. 

This picture is a really good tip not just for this recipe but for your kitchen knowledge for the future. Put the dish on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet- this way if anything boils over- you do not have to spend time scrubbing off the burnt mess. 

I baked this dish at 385 for 35 minutes and here is the big reveal...

I know it will be very hard to do- but Liz this is for you- please wait at least 15 minutes before you spoon into this dish!!! Its kind of like lasagna- you want all of the juices that will be running to re absorb into the dish so that you don't get a soupy mess. I know I know, it will take a lot of self control but it's so worth it! :)

I served this with a loaf of M & M's garlic bread- It is my favourite of all time- not the best for you- so we don't eat it often- but when you taste it, you'll know why its my absolute favourite- I always go for homemade, but in this case this is one thing that is better to buy... Did I just say that???

Cooking! As always please let me know how it goes:)