Chunky Tomato Pasta Bake

I rarely try new recipes because I am married to quite possibly the pickiest man ever, at least when it comes to his food. (I haven't shaved my legs in a month so apparently he's not picky in ALL departments. Sorry for the horrible image that is probably now in your head.) With the exception of small children, I have yet to meet a pickier eater than Hubs.

I, on the other hand, love trying new recipes. Last week I used a can of Del Monte tomatoes for something and noticed an interesting (read: easy but still tasty) sounding recipe on the can. I went to the Del Monte website and found lots of really easy recipes. So I decided that Big One and I would start trying new things at lunch.

Now this is a stretch for me. I don't mind cooking but the thought of doing tons of cooking at lunch time isn't appealing. If it can't be served cold, microwaved, or heated in the oven, it usually doesn't make it to the lunch plate. But I finally went back to writing out menus this week and yesterday in the lunch square, I found "Chunky Tomato Pasta Bake". Chunky Tomato Pasta Bake violates many of the rules Hubs has established when it comes to acceptable meals. Here is a short list of its offenses:

1. It's a casserole.
2. It involves more than 1 ingredient being combined.
3. It has ground meat in it.
4. It has tomatoes in it.
5. It has cream of mushroom soup in it.
6. It has melted cheese on top. (He doesn't like melted cheese. Except pizza is one of his favorite foods. What? Yeah, I know. But if you ask him he'll claim he doesn't like melted cheese. I think someone needs to tell him all that white stuff covering his pepperoni is MELTED CHEESE.)
   

So I decided to try the recipe yesterday at lunch (see below). There are only 4 main ingredients (plus cheese on top).

It goes in the oven....

And comes out delicious!
I made a few modifications to the original recipe. I used ground turkey in place of ground beef and I only used 1/3- 1/2 lb (not sure exactly but it wasn't more than 1/2lb). It would be fine without meat at all if you prefer. I also only used about 2/3 of the can of tomatoes because it seemed like it was getting really tomato-y.

CHUNKY TOMATO PASTA BAKE

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6 oz. uncooked penne or other tube pasta
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) DEL MONTE^® Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano
1 can (10-3/4 fl. oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1-1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.
2. Brown meat in skillet; drain. Combine meat with pasta, tomatoes and mushroom soup; place in 11x7-inch baking dish.
3. Cover and bake at 350°F, 25 minutes. Uncover; top with cheese. Bake 3 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.