Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables

This is my absolute favorite pasta recipe of all time!  This was the first recipe, and my favorite recipe from my friend Emily's blog at One Lovely Life.  It was her blog that introduced me to food blogs and made me fall in love with them!


What really makes this so good is roasting the vegetables in the oven before adding it to the pasta. It brings out the best flavor vegetables can possibly have.  I've made this recipe many times for a lot of people and it's always a hit.  Emily suggests using the pasta sauce by Newman's Own, Sockarooni. It really is the best with that pasta sauce but you can use whatever you have.


You can also freeze this or even half of it. It makes a lot so that's not a bad idea.


Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables

Recipe slightly adapted from One Lovely Life

Ingredients:
1lb penne pasta
1 jar pasta sauce
8oz mozzarella cheese, grated
2 bell peppers, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
1/2c-3/4c carrots, sliced thinly
olive oil
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil. Place peppers, onion, and carrots on a baking sheet. Drizzle with a little olive oil. Toss veggies a bit to coat with the oil. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. If you want a little kick, sprinkle a pinch of red pepper flakes across as well. Roast about 20 minutes, or till veggies are softened.

Meanwhile, cook pasta about 6-7 minutes in salted boiling water. Do not overcook.  Drain and toss with pasta sauce. Stir in roasted vegetables. Mix in pasta sauce.

Pour the pasta mixture into a 9 x 13" or large baking dish. Top with cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or till cheese is bubbly.

Makes enough to serve 8. 

To freeze: Line a 9″ x 13″ or very full 11″x 7″ baking dish with foil, assemble the dish, sprinkle on the mozzarella, then freeze it. You can even divide the dish in half–cook half now, and half later. Allow the dish to fully freeze in the freezer, then you can remove the foil-wrapped pasta dish from the pan and store it in the freezer. Just add some extra minutes to your cook time when you bake it.