Mexican Penne

You know what works for me? Making meals ahead when I know life will be crazy!

For those of you who read my blog on a semi-regular basis, you may have noticed I've been MIA for awhile now... I'm in the midst of finals (law school) and haven't found much time to sleep let alone blog, but I am taking a break tonight from the insanity to introduce you all to my favorite make-ahead (or make right now!) meal!

I made this about a week and a half ago, I knew I'd be too busy to cook (I haven't cooked since last Wednesday!) and I knew my boys would be hungry, so I made a few easy to throw together meals and threw them in the freezer, this is their second favorite - Shepherd's Pie being their first!

This recipe is for one casserole, but I made it into two because otherwise there are too many leftovers.

So here is what you need:

Hamburger, Penne, Salsa, Black Beans, Corn (I used fiesta corn with peppers in it), taco seasoning, and cheese. Don't you love when there are so few ingredients?!?

And okay, I was going to do a post about the taco seasoning, because I've made a bit of a big deal about it on my site before, but really, it is so super easy and the person that created it should get all the credit, so I won't steal her thunder. Have you ever heard of Kittencal? If you browse RecipeZaar at all you may have! I've tried several of her recipes and she is a genius, so when I saw her recipe for taco packet seasoning I made it immediately, and I've never looked back! So without further babbling here is the link: Kittencal's Taco Seasoning.  Please make it, you'll thank yourself, and you'll save some money in the long run on packets! (This is blasphemy I suppose on the Packet Queen website!)

Next step is to brown the meat, drain the grease and then add your taco seasoning, I used about 2 TBS:

Mix it well and then add your salsa:

I don't have measurements for you here, the recipe I used said to use 2 16oz jars, but as you saw earlier I had a huge jug of salsa, and I just dumped it in until it looked right, you can always add more if it doesn't look like enough after you mix it together.

Go ahead and drain your cans of corn and black beans and throw them into the mix:

And your cooked pasta (we use protein penne) and mix it all up:

I start eating it right about now, I've convinced myself it's to make sure there is enough salsa, but really it is just delicious!

Next, go ahead and get a casserole dish out and dump in half of the mix and cover it with cheese:

The recipe says to add the second half and then cover that with cheese as well, but I knew that our leftovers wouldn't be used so I decided to save the other half for this week. But since I wanted to have a second layer of cheese I added just a little bit of pasta and another coating of cheese:

Then I baked it at 350 for around 35-40 minutes, while it was baking I added the other half of the pasta to a labeled freezer bag (so the boys could handle it themselves):

Then the finished product came out of the oven:

Yummy! Here is my stepson's first helping:

And let me tell you, he is CRAZY for not adding a huge dollop of sour cream to this because it is just begging for it! So if you are sane, add sour cream!

And here is what was left after my boys had devoured it and I returned home from my last night class of the semester (did I mention I have THREE night classes next semester! ugh):

I had half for a late dinner and the rest for lunch the next day, and let me tell you, I did add sour cream and it was DELICIOUS. (But okay, if you don't add sour cream for whatever reason it is still good!)

Please let me know if this sounds good enough to make, I could use a little happiness in my dreary study world!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen