Sausage & Pepper Bake

One of my husband’s (Ryan) favorite dishes is Italian sausage and peppers.  I am happy with it because it takes 1 pan a little olive oil, sausage and peppers.  Can’t get easier than that right? Yet, it can also get boring after a while.  So I decided to turn it into a baked pasta casserole, and now it’s Ryan’s new favorite dish!!  You can use all sorts of sausage for this dish including turkey sausage for those of you who do not like pork.  Reinventing a simple dish like sausage and pepper is how I get my creative juices flowing!  I just start throwing things together and voila, I have a new recipe!! 

You may notice in my photo that not all the noodles in this dish are penne.  This is on purpose, I hate having 3 or 4 half empty boxes of pasta cluttering my cabinets.  So many times I will mix different pastas to clear out my cabinet, rather than open another box.  I suggest you all do this too, I promise your family won’t judge and they probably won’t even notice!

½ lb penne, or noodle of choice
¼ cup olive oil
¼ lb Italian sausage
¼ tsp crushed red pepper, optional
¾ cup green peppers, chopped
2 cups marinara
¾ cup shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 350°, and spray an 8x8 baking dish with non stick cooking spray.  Boil penne in salted water just until el dente (will continue to cook in oven).  Meanwhile remove sausage from casing and add to a skillet over medium heat along with the olive oil.  Once sausage starts to brown, add green peppers and crushed red pepper and cook for 8-10 minutes.  Add marinara to the sausage and peppers and let simmer on low for 10 minutes.  Drain pasta and place in baking dish.  Pour marinara mixture onto the pasta and stir to coat.  Top pasta with mozzarella and bake for 15-20 minutes, finish the dish off by browning the cheese under the broiler for 1 minute.  Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes before serving, or you’ll burn your mouth for sure!