PIZZA SPAGHETTI CASSEROLE

 So far I am still doing well with my menu planning in 2021. I really hope I will keep doing it because it frees me from the stress of trying to decide what I am going to cook the day of. You can read all about how to go about planning your menus by reading this early POST I wrote eight years ago. I will suggest that if you are new to menu planning and feel a little nervous about trying it there are a couple of things to remember. 1) It's okay to change your mind. Life Happens! Just because you wrote down on a piece of paper, doesn't mean you have to fix that on that particular day. and 2) Feeling overwhelmed? Try just doing a week at a time initially and then add another week for a bit and do two weeks at a time until you can work up to a month. And you never have to do a month at a time if that's too much for your busy life. My DIL Sara plans 2 weeks and then repeats them for the rest of the month.

Anyway this Pizza Spaghetti Casserole wasn't written up the way I did it, but it will keep us from eating leftovers for so many days. Fortunately for me, Wayne doesn't mind eating leftovers three or four days in a row. Sometimes I like a little break. When I saw it was baked in a 9 x 13 - inch baking dish, I knew we would be eating it three or four days. So I went about trying to find some baking dishes that I had that would allow me to split the recipe in half. The best thing I could come up with were two 8 - inch round cake pans. They worked out great. I am so pleased with it, I just may do this again when I make a casserole in a 9 x 13 - inch baking dish.

I misread the recipe and used all of the pepperoni slices under the cheese instead of half and then placing the other half on top of the cheese. I think in the long run that is better because the pepperoni doesn't burn while baking in the oven.

We each enjoyed about a fourth of the casserole so we will wait a day before we heat up the rest of the casserole for another meal.

PIZZA SPAGHETTI CASSEROLE

12      oz. uncooked spaghetti

1/2     teaspoon salt

1        (1-lb) package mild ground sausage

2        oz. turkey pepperoni slices (about 30), cut in half

1        (26-oz) jar tomato-and basil pasta sauce

1/4     cup grated Parmesan cheese

1        (8-oz) package shredded Italian three-cheese blend

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 - inch baking dish OR two 8-inch baking dishes (I used 2 round cake pans that were 8-inches in diameter.)

Cook spaghetti with salt according to package directions. Drain well, and place in baking dish or divide in half for two baking dishes.

Brown sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until meat crumbles and is no longer pink. Drain and set aside. Wipe skillet clean.

Add pepperoni and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, 4 minutes or until slightly crisp. (I didn't cook my pepperoni this long.)

Top spaghetti in baking dish(es) with sausage.

Then pour pasta sauce over sausage.

Arrange half of pepperoni slices over pasts sauce.

Sprinkle with cheese. Arrange remaining half of pepperoni slices over cheese. (I divided the pepperoni slices in half and spread them over the pasta sauce and then topped with cheese.)

At this point, I covered one of my casseroles with plastic wrap,

then foil, and wrote the date on top along with the directions for cooking. I put the casserole in a gallon freezer bag and placed in the freezer to freeze and cook in a couple of weeks. When I ready to reheat it, I will allow it to thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then let it stand 30 minutes at room temperature. I will remove the wrappings and recover it with the sprayed foil and cook for 30 minutes and then remove foil and cook for 10 more minutes to melt the cheese.

The one I cooked, I covered with a sheet of foil that I had sprayed with non-stick cooking spray

and placed in oven. Bake for 30 minutes, (I just baked my smaller one for 25 minutes. Everything is cooked so all you really want to do is heat it through.) remove the foil, and

bake 10 more minutes or until cheese is melted and just begins to brown.