Meatball Casserole

In my attempt to be more creative in the kitchen and cook bigger quantities, I've taken some recipes I've found and had to tweak them to becomes my own creation.  It's been pretty fun but there is always that moment of "oh, this is going to be a disaster" just before it turns into something perfectly delicious.


This latest one I found was basically lasagna that used penne pasta, but my hubby can't have gluten OR dairy so those types of recipes are tricky. 


I went to work getting the appropriate substitutes and came up with...

Meatball Casserole!

The recipe includes:

-2lbs of ground beef
-1 onion
-2 boxes of Barilla Gluten Free pasta
-1 jar (although I would maybe add 1 1/2 jars next time) of Prego Traditional pasta sauce
-1 zucchini
-1 squash
-baby spinach
-Salt, Oregano, Pepper to taste

Instructions:

1.  Cook ground beef in a skillet with the onions. Cook until thoroughly brown then cover.

2.  Cook pasta completely as directed on the box.

3.  Cut up and cook squash and zucchini on stove.

4.  Grease a 9x13 baking dish (I actually ended up needing both a 9x13 and an 8x8).

5.  Add pasta, meat, squash, zucchini, and as much spinach (uncooked) as you would like. 

6.  Add salt, oregano, and pepper.

7.  Pour sauce over and gently mix together in baking dish.

8.  Cook at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes until sauce is bubbling. 

Making sure every piece of meat is fully cooked!

Such a big batch that I needed two baking dishes!  This is why I wish I had more sauce.

Before it went in the oven.

After cooking in the oven.

This recipes keeps really well and although I didn't freeze it, I'm sure it freezes well, too!  Enjoy this delicious recipe!  I made it about 2 weeks ago and am going to try it again this week..it was that good!