Cathy's Baked Mostaccioli

Cathy made this for Sunday Supper when she and Al visited us this winter - it's easy and so good, everyone went crazy for it! She says she has been making it for years, it's her go-to dish for get togethers/neighbors/potluck/etc., so of course she doesn't measure anything. You'll need to wing that part of the recipe but really, it's meat, cheese, and sauce and you can't mess it up! After you make the sauce and assemble the casserole you can always add additional jarred sauce if it seems like it might be dry - that's the only thing you need to watch out for...

Ingredients:

• 2 jars Ragu chunky onion and garlic sauce (or chunky tomato, garlic and onion)
• diced onion
• 1 package ground beef
• sugar to taste
• 1 box mostaccioli pasta, cooked according to package directions
• shredded mozzarella cheese
• grated parmesan or romano cheese

Directions:

Spray a large frypan with non-stick cooking spray. Saute an onion over medium heat, add the ground beef and break up into small pieces, cook until completely browned. Add a jar or two of Ragu (depending on how saucy you want it), and add a little bit of sugar to taste (that helps remove any bitter tomato taste the sauce might have). Meanwhile, cook a box of mostaccioli to your desired firmness. 

Spray a 13x9 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray, add a thin layer of meat sauce to the bottom of the dish. Top with a layer of cooked mostaccioli, another layer of meat sauce, a generous layer of mozzarella and parmesan cheeses; repeat layering until the dish is full. This is funny - she told me "I always end up mixing it up at this point so I have no idea why I actually layer in the first place, I've just always done it this way!" So I guess you don't have to layer it like she does - sounds like you can mix it all together and then pour it into the dish, haha! Top with a final layer of mozzarella and parmesan cheese and bake in a 350' oven until it's warmed thru and the cheese is melted - everything is already cooked so you just need to get it all hot.