This is quarantine people. Now is not the time to be cutting back on carbs, it’s the time to fully indulge yourself in that which is most comforting. I’m talking noods. This pasta bake is so easy to make and you can include anything that happens to be lying around your kitchen. So grab a bowl, make some garlic bread, and binge watch Criminal Minds because by god you’ve earned it.

• I used macaroni because I had a huge box of it already opened. Any kind of pasta shape will do.
• You will need an oven safe dish to bake the pasta in.
• For the sauce I used one jar of tomato bruschetta from Kroger (which just tasted like regular pasta sauce but with larger chunks of tomato which I really enjoy) and I also added about a half a cup of regular Prego pasta sauce to make it more saucy.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of macaroni
• 2 Beyond Italian Sausages
• 1 yellow onion
• bunch of fresh basil
• 1 jar of pasta sauce
• 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package instructions until just before pasta is ready. It will continue cooking in the oven. Drain and set aside.
2. Dice the onion and add it to a pan over medium heat. Once the onion turns translucent, crumble in the Beyond sausage into bite sized pieces. Cook until the sausage is browned and warmed through.
3. Preheat the oven to 450 F. Add the jar of pasta sauce to the sausage and onion mixture. Stir to combine. Then add some chopped fresh basil and the Italian seasoning.

4. In a separate bowl, combine the ricotta cheese and the nutmeg as well as some salt and pepper to taste. Take about half the mixture and line the bottom of an oven safe dish.
5. Next start layering and the cooked macaroni and the pasta sauce. In between each layer, add some parmesan cheese and a few dollops of ricotta. It doesn’t have to be perfect!

6. Top off the pasta bake with a healthy dosage of parmesan cheese. Place in the oven to bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
7. Let rest before serving for 5 minutes. Serve with homemade garlic toast and top with more fresh basil.

Comfort food at its finest, folks. I hope you guys give this one a try!