Description
Quick, easy, delicious dinner filled with flavor. Make this ahead for a quick freezer to oven meal.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 1/2 large red bell pepper, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pint chopped mushrooms
- 6 cups chopped kale
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2½ tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp ground pepper
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 lb ground beef, pork, chicken, or vegetarian option
- 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes (do not drain)
- 12 oz premade pasta sauce
- 2 cups water
- 8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 box (1 lb dry pasta) any “shell” variety — macaroni, cavatappi, penne, will all work great.
Instructions
- Heat your olive oil in a dutch oven.
- Add onion and saute for 5 minutes.
- Add salt, pepper, oregano, thyme.
- Add garlic and mushrooms and saute for 10 minutes.
- Add chopped kale and saute for 10 minutes.
- Add can of diced tomatoes.
- While kale is being sauteed, brown ground beef in a separate pan.
- Once ground beef is browned, add to the dutch oven with the kale, and other veggies.
- Add dry, uncooked pasta to the dutch oven.
- Add water and pasta sauce to dutch oven, stir and cook for 10 minutes.
- At this point all of the ingredients should be in the dutch oven EXCEPT the shredded cheese.
- Your pasta will be al dente at this point. That is what you want. When you move it to the oven to finish, the pasta will be perfectly soft.
- Layer 1/2 of your beef, kale and pasta mixture in your 9×13 pan.
- Sprinkle 4 oz of shredded cheddar cheese over the top, don’t mix it in.
- Add remaining beef, kale and pasta mixture and sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese.
- Bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree preheated oven, uncovered.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Category: Casserole, Dinner, Make Ahead
- Cuisine: American
