The Kitchen Sink Casserole

     Today's recipe is one of my favorite comfort foods and one of the first things that I learned to cook. For many years, it had no official recipe or name because it was different every time my mom made it. The idea of it is to base it on a few key ingredients and then throw in whatever vegetables you have. So I've decide to name it the Kitchen Sink Casserole, as in "everything but the kitchen sink." Over the past few years, I've figured out my favorite version of it, but there's still plenty of wiggle room. The four ingredients that you can't do without are pasta, ground beef, diced tomatoes, and cheddar cheese, but here's how I like to make it:

INGREDIENTS:
4 servings worth of the pasta of your choice (I usually use either rotini, medium shells, or some combo of interesting shapes.)
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 small onion
a few handfuls of your favorite leafy green (kale, spinach, etc.)
1 green bell pepper
1 small can of sliced mushrooms
1 or 2 14oz cans diced tomatoes, depending on how juicy you want this to be
about 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 13x9 baking dish. (I used 2 smaller dishes this time.)
2. Cook the pasta in a very large pot with extra room according to the instructions for "al dente." Remember that it will continue to cook in the oven later.
3. Chop all of your fresh vegetables.

4. Brown the beef over medium heat in a large frying pan. When it's close to done, add the onion. 

When the onion is close to done, add the peppers.

5. When the peppers are close to done, add all the canned ingredients. Remember to drain anything other than the tomatoes. Stir all ingredients until everything is hot. Add any fresh leafy greens last and stir until they wilt.

6. Drain the pasta, return it to the pot, then gradually fold in the meat and vegetables.

7. Fill you casserole dish(es) and cover them with a ton of cheese.

8. Bake at 350 for at least 30 minutes, but 45 minutes is ideal.

     Believe me, it tastes just as good as it looks! Hopefully it's obvious that this recipe is really hard to mess up. There are no exact measurements, which makes this recipe easy to double or triple. I've fed this to 3 people and I've fed it to 20, and nobody had any complaints. So enjoy, and come back tomorrow for a 3 ingredient dessert!