Baked Penne with Tomato Sauce

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Mince garlic finely. Peel the parsnip and grate carrots, zucchini and parsnip on a large grater.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente.

Meanwhile, in a large pan (big enough to hold pasta, meat and veggies) brown the beef. Please, please, please drain most of the fat from the pan after it is browned. You don’t need it in there. I once forgot to do this while making chili and I could not get out of my mind that I was giving a loved one heart disease. So drain, lest you end up like me.

After the fat has been drained, add in garlic, and then the grated carrots, parsnip and zucchini. Salt the mixture and mix until it’s all incorporated. Add in your fave tomato sauce or whatever it is you have on hand and let it simmer for a bit. Add in a little grated cheese. I love my microplane for grating straight into the pot.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and add it into the meat mixture. Stir together and place into a pan. Mine I think was 9 x 13 and it was the perfect size for it. Add the rest of the grated cheese on top of the pasta and place into the oven. I love the top of my baked pasta to be very crispy so mine baked for approximately 20 minutes.