One Pan Pizza Pasta Pot

I wish I would have been able to take a picture of this one to do it justice, but alas, since it was an experiment and I wasn't sure how it would work out, I opted not to take any pictures.

I have been wracking my brains trying to find meals that my picky and poor eating toddlers will enjoy. Faith has sensory issues that go along with her Autism and flat out refuses to even try some meals because they don't appear "safe" (ie something she has had before) even if it has elements that are on her safe food list...she will take one look, get up from her chair, and walk away from her plate.  Phillie is going through her terrible two "I won't eat it since sissy isn't eating it, but maybe I'll take a bite" phase...

I posted a thread on Facebook today asking for dinner ideas. One of my friends mentioned doing a pizza pot for dinner. I was intrigued, but found that most of the recipes for pizza pot that I was finding (including the recipe my friend gave me) required cooking in a crock pot...something I didn't have time for, unfortunately, since it was already 4:30 when I made my inquiry...

But, considering that my kids love pizza, and I had all the ingredients on hand, I decided to try to make a skillet version.  It was SUPER quick and I think it turned out super darn tasty (still haven't made it for my husband who is out of town in Canada for business this week, so the official jury is still out, but I thought it was pretty darn tasty.) The best part was the cheesy, gooey, globs that stuck the pasta and pepperoni together because of how I prepared it.

I think if you have older kids that can verbally communicate, if you say the words "pizza pasta" they will probably be all over this one...and the best part (no, having kids all over it isn't the best part) is that it took less than 15 minutes to make.

You will need (this makes 4-6 servings)

1/2 box or bag of your favorite pasta (I used the mini lasagna noodles, can't remember what they're called, but any old pasta besides spaghetti would work. I don't think spaghetti would do well because the ingredients wouldn't evenly distribute very well through it.)

1/2 package of pepperoni, pepperoni slices cut in half

1 jar (14 oz) pizza sauce (or you can just make 1 recipe of your favorite homemade pizza sauce...I just happened to have some Ragu pizza sauce on hand that we purchased while it was on sale. I still like my homemade pizza sauce better, but the Ragu is nice when you're in a pinch)

2 cups mozzarella cheese diced into cubes (believe me, you will WANT to dice and cube some mozzarella. I did mine in about 1 inch squares.)

Prepare your pasta according to package instructions for al dente finish. Drain. Dump in your pizza sauce, add your pepperoni and stir until the pepperoni is evenly distributed throughout the pasta. Then add your mozzarella and stir  until evenly distributed. Cover your pan with a lid for a few minutes until you notice the mozzarella getting soft. Stir your lovely concoction until you notice little strings coming off of the mozzarella cubes...

Then, plate and top with parmesan.  We ate ours with green beans on the side. It was AWESOME (or at least I thought it was.)

Of course, you can add other favorite pizza toppings to it too. If you're planning on green peppers and onions, this may become not so much of a 1 pan meal because you'd likely want to sautee those to soften them a bit before you add them to the pasta mix.

Seriously, you WANT the globs of mozzarella, its like a little bite of pizza heaven when you pick up a glob of mozzarella with pasta and pepperoni sticking to it. SO GOOD! (Really, so sad I didn't take a picture of it before it was all gone.)

Happy eating, until next time my darlings.