Pizza casserole

Got kids? Having kids for dinner? That didn't sound right, how about this: Having kids OVER for dinner?  Pizza to the rescuuuuuuue!  This is a whole heckuva lot less greasy than take out, tastes as good as pizza, feeds an army (including toddlers), and is easy to make ahead so it's hands off when you're trying to wrangle the little peeps...plus I skinnied it up a bit :)

We had a special guest over for dinner, so I wanted to try this recipe out on her.  Little Ms. Delaney Jones pictured here with Baby...

And counting with daddy:

I made this the night before so I could just throw it in the oven and I think she ate more of it than her daddy did! Here's what you need:

1 bag egg noodles (no yolks)
1 extra large can of spagetti sauce
3 cups shredded mozzerella cheese (2 %)
1.5 lbs hamburger (you could def use turkey here, I just happen to have a large bovine in my freezer to use)
1 package pepperonis (I use turkey pepperonis because you literally can't tell the difference)
1 can mushrooms, drained

Boil  your noodles per the package instructions. Brown your hamburger in a skillet, I added a can of mushrooms for good measure.  I would have added onions if we didn't have an onion hater in our midst...and no, it wasn't the 2 year old!  We went onionless for Christina :) I also added a lot, and I mean A LOT of italian seasoning at this point. I didnt measure, just dumped till it tasted yummy!

Grease your baking dish with Pam and spread a layer of spagetti sauce on the bottom to prevent stickage (yes, that's a word in my book).

Now layer in half the noodles, and then half the meat mixture....

Now half the sauce on top.  Now add the rest of the noodles, then half the cheese, the rest of the meat, the rest of the sauce, and then the rest of the cheese.  Finally, throw a layer of pepperoni on top with another few dashes of italian seasoning.

Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes. Once it's done baking, take it out and let it sit for 10 minutes so it can cool off and settle together, otherwise it just falls apart on your fork.

Add a little parmesan cheese and some cracked red pepper and dig on in! We fed 4 adults (with one going back for a huge helping of seconds) and one child and still had a decent amount of leftovers so I woult think this would easily serve 6 adults and a few children. 

And this doesn't have to be just for kids...the Trix rabbit would be pumped!  Justin killed the leftovers last night and here was his review: "NOMNOMNOM you need to NOMNOMNOM make this NOMNOMNOM again NOM soon NOM. It's like goulash NOMNOM but better. No, its like NOMNOM spagetti and pizza combined NOM.  Whatever, NOMNOM, its just really good so make it again NOM."