Friday night I made some baked mostaccioli.  My brother introduced me to this delicious pasta dish a few years ago.  I made this dish because it was easy to make and didn’t need a lot of time, which I didn’t have between the time I got done with work at 3:20, I had to run to a few stores, wanted to have dinner ready by 6:30. 


Ingredients

• 8 ounces uncooked mostaccioli
• 1-1/2 pounds ground beef (I used Italian Sausage(
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 can (4 ounces) sliced mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 jar of your favorite red pasta sauce. 

Directions

After drained the pasta and the Italian Sausage, I combined the meat and the past sauce in a bowl and then mixed in the mostaccioli.

I normally would have used homemade, but I was out of my homemade pasta sauce and went the easy route and used a store bought kind.

I then served the mostaccioli with Italian bread and dipping oil and balsamic vinegar.  I had some wine I purchased from Door Peninsula Winery.

Even though my plans didn’t turn out how I wanted them to, I did enjoy the evening with some good wine and a good meal.  Sometimes it’s nice just to have a quiet night (or weekend) without doing a whole lot.