From the Freezer: Baked Penne with Meat Sauce

Made one of the kids’ favorites last night: baked penne with meat sauce. I pulled a bag of meat sauce from the freezer (about 2 -3 cups I guess) and thawed it and warmed it up while I cooked up a half a pound of penne pasta (little tubes). Drained the pasta when it was done and mixed with the meat sauce then poured it into a 8×8 baking pan. Topped with about a cup of grated mozzarella then some grated Parmesan. Covered with foil and baked for 20 minutes at 350, then uncovered and baked another few minutes. I also pulled out some garlic bread from the freezer. (I’d made two big loaves for my party then only needed one of them.) I cut it in half (still frozen!) because that was plenty for the 3 of us, then heated it in the oven with the pasta to thaw out. Put the broiler on for a few minutes at the end so the bread would get crispy on top like we like it. Made a quick salad and that was dinner.

You could easily double this and freeze half for later. Or freeze just the pasta and meat sauce in a bag and just add the cheese when you’re baking it although for me just having the meat sauce in the freezer is the most flexible and allows me either do this OR spaghetti or whatever we feel like.