April 11, 2013

Pizza Casserole.

Here is a recipe I made for the first time this evening. Earl and Jamie really liked the end result, as did I. The recipe is from my friend Susan at work. She’s a really good cook.

Pizza Casserole
1 (16 ounce) package uncooked rotini pasta
1 lb ground Italian sausage
1 (24 ounce) jar pasta sauce
1 (16 ounce) container cottage cheese
1 (2 1/4 ounce) can sliced black olives, drained (optional)
1 (4 ounce) can mushrooms, drained
12 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
2 (3 ounce) packages sliced pepperoni

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9X13 casserole dish.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place pasta in the pot, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.

In a skillet over medium heat, cook the sausage until evenly brown, drain grease. Mix in the cooked pasta and pasta sauce. Pour into prepared casserole dish.

In a bowl, mix the cottage cheese, olives, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese.

Spoon the cheese mixture over the sausage and pasta mixture. Top with pepperoni slices.

Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until bubbly and lightly browned.

Pizza Casserole.

Rain.

“April showers bring May flowers.” It’s a popular saying in these parts, what with the ample rain we get every year during the month of April. As I look outside over our patio, I see the rain coming down in droves and indications that the temperature is hovering just about 40F.

Sigh.

I will say that I’m thankful that it’s not colder and that we are not getting snow at the moment. Worried isn’t the right word, but there is a thought lingering around in my head that tomorrow morning we’ll wake up to snow on the ground.

Sigh.

I keep looking at the weather app on my iPhone and seeing that by this time next week it should be in the 60s. I am really, really looking forward to that.