Pizza Casserole

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This is a story of my friend Lynne and her Pizza Casserole that saved the day.  

In 2009, Nate and I were going to have twins.  I remember stopping him in the kitchen, bathroom, hallway, living room, drive way, back yard, from beside him in the truck and reminding him of that fact for months.

“Twins, Nathan.”

“Yup.”

“Twins.  We have to have two of everything!”

“Yup and yup?”

It was April when we were finally in the house that they were going to call their first home.  Plenty of time until October. 

Well, I did get the house put together.  Two cribs.  Two bouncers.  Two car seats.  Two swings.

But the only thing I could think of while Nathan raced me the 20 miles to Flowers Hospital in the middle of the night in August was that I didn’t have a hospital bag packed.  Or even a camera. 

Hours later, our girls arrived.  Well ahead of schedule.  Almost too far ahead.  At 2# 3oz, and 2# 9oz, and the length of Nathan’s wristwatch, our little girls were thankfully healthy, but they still had a lot of growing to do. 

76 days later, we all came home. To a house with no food. And I don’t think we even had our shoes off yet when my dear friend Lynne from a few house down was jogging over with a “heat until bubbly” Pizza Casserole. 

Remember when I said I didn’t even have a camera?  This sweet lady came to the hospital the next morning with clothes, toothbrushes, cameras, and McDonnalds.  Now she’s coming over with a hot-dish when we had no food to speak of, like a mid-western fairy godmother. 

God bless that girl. 

And oh-my-goodness was it good. So good, that we now have at least two Pizza Casseroles in the freezer: one for the saving dinner emergencies at home, the other to save dinner for someone else.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. Ground Beef
• 1 Onion, diced
• 24oz jar of your favorite Spaghetti Sauce
• 1/2 lb. Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
• 1 box of Rotini or Penne Pasta
• 1/2 of a 6oz bag of Pepperoni
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F

Start by browning the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat. Add in the bag of pepperoni and diced onions to be sautéed in the hot hamburger fat. Drain off any excess fat after the beef has been cooked and set aside.

Cook the box of pasta to al dente. Drain the water and place the pasta into a large bowl. Stir in your jar of spaghetti sauce and meat mixture along with the shredded cheese. Season with Salt and Pepper to taste and pour into a 9×13 baking dish. Sprinkle the top with more mozzarella cheese if you’d prefer and bake for 30 minutes.

If you’re planning to freeze this meal for later, place a layer of cling wrap over the dish before you place tin foil on top of your freezable 9×13 pan. It keeps frost from forming on top. I like to use tin foil pans for an even easier freezer meal, because who doesn’t like a meal with less dishes in the end. This pizza casserole can be frozen for up to 6 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, or on the counter the morning of.

If you need to pull it from the freezer and cook right away- drop the temp to 300 and cook for 50-60 minutes checking the center if it’s heated through since everyone’s oven is different (and we’ve lived in enough different places to attest to this).

Here is another quick dinner comfort food recipe, Red Rice Casserole, to check out next!