Tomato Alfredo Penne

Last week, I needed to go to the grocery store and I had some hamburger for dinner. I don't remember what I planned on making but I didn't want to cook or eat it! So I stood in the kitchen and thought, "What can I make?" And in case you haven't noticed, I love pasta! This is what I came up with ingredients that were in the cabinet. And we loved it!! It reheated wonderfully too. 

(Note: you could use a jar of marinara or a can of spaghetti sauce for my three tomato items. I was using up pantry ingredients.)

1 pound hamburger

1 onion, diced

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. each garlic powder, onion powder, steak seasoning

1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper

1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced

3 oz. tomato paste

small can tomato sauce

1 can diced tomatoes

1 tsp. each oregano and basil

1 cup whipping cream

2 cups spinach, sliced

3/4 pound penne, 

1/2 cup parmesan

1 cup shredded cheese

(That's a long list. Apparently I had a lot of stuff in the cabinet to need to go to the store.)

Cook pasta according to package directions. Brown hamburger (with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and steak seasoning) with onions and garlic. Drain off excess grease.

Add mushrooms to pan and cook for three minutes.

Drain pasta.

Add tomato pasta, sauce, and tomatoes to pan. I dislike tomato chunks so I blended all of mine together to make it smooth. Stir in oregano and basil.

Stir in whipping cream.

You don't have to slice up your spinach unless you want to. I prefer not to bite into a huge chunk of spinach. (I'm sounding really picky in this post.) Plus it's prettier this way.

Stir in spinach.

Add pasta and parmesan cheese.

Pour mixture into casserole dish and top with cheese. I used a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella because that's what was left in the fridge. Bake at 400 until cheese is browned and sauce is bubbly.

Seriously yummy! Tomato alfredo sauce is better than regular tomato sauce in my opinion. We'll definitely be making this again!