Pizza Spaghetti Bake {Crazy Cooking Challenge}

Pizza.  One of my favorites.  Spaghetti.  One of my favorites.  Put them together??  Yes, please!

When it was announced that this month's Crazy Cooking Challenge item was SPAGHETTI, I knew I had to go with this Pizza Spaghetti Bake from Plain Chicken.  Good choice, if I do say so myself.  It's delicious, and it comes together quickly and easily enough to be a great weeknight meal choice.  Don't you love it when that happens?

Start by cooking up some spaghetti noodles, draining them, and putting them in the bottom of a baking dish.  Then simply pour on some pasta sauce and top with some ol' standby pizza toppings ... sausage crumbles, (turkey) pepperoni, and cheese.  Sounds good to me!

Arrange a few pepperoni slices on the top ...

... and give it a good baking.  It'll come out of the oven looking kind of like a pizza lasagna, but ...

... there's spaghetti hiding inside!  And it's some very tasty spaghetti, indeed.

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Pizza Spaghetti Bake

Source:  Adapted from MyRecipes.com, as posted by Plain Chicken

Ingredients

1 (12 oz.) box spaghetti  (I used whole wheat)

1 tsp. salt

1 lb. mild pork sausage

2 oz. (about 30 slices) turkey pepperoni, halved

1 (26 oz.) jar basil & tomato pasta sauce

1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1 (8 oz. ) package shredded Italian 5-cheese blend

Directions

1.  Cook spaghetti, according to package directions, in water salted with the teaspoon of salt.  Drain well and place in a lightly-greased 9x13" baking dish. 

2.  Brown sausage in a skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until cooked through and no longer pink.  Drain and set aside.  Wipe out skillet with a paper towel.  Add pepperoni to skillet and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until slightly crisp (about 4 minutes).

3.  Top spaghetti in the baking dish with sausage.  Pour sauce over sausage.  Arrange half of the pepperoni slices over the sauce; sprinkle evenly with cheeses.  Arrange remaining pepperoni slices evenly over cheese.

4.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Cheese should be melted and just beginning to brown.  If cheese is browning too much, cover with foil part way through baking.

Enjoy!

Check out the other Crazy Cooking Challenge participants through the linky party below.  It's spaghetti time!

{Click to view my other Crazy Cooking Challenge entries.}

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