Greyson's Pepperoni Pizza Pasta
One of my "goals" as a Mom is to help my kids have all the "tools" they might need when they leave the nest in a few years. One of those key tools is the ability to cook great meals on their own from wholesome, simple ingredients (read: not from a box!).
For the last couple of years, we've been encouraging the kids to take charge of one of our meals each week. They get to choose the meal and are in charge of putting it together, with or without our help. The girls are pretty great at cooking up amazing meals completely on their own. Greyson is 8 and we work together with him for his meal. He has gotten more and more creative lately and one of the recipes he came up with was a pasta that tastes like pepperoni pizza. We threw this one together from scratch so I made a point of measuring the ingredients so we could share the recipe here.
This recipe is super kid-friendly and incredibly easy to put together. It's perfect for a busy weeknight meal!
Greyson's Pepperoni Pizza Pasta Recipe
Ingredients:
- 398 mL can tomato sauce
- 500 gram pasta
- 1 teaspoon each of oregano, parsley, minced garlic, and minced onion
- 1/2 teaspoon each salt & pepper (or to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- 1 cup grated parmesan
- 3 to 4 pepperoni sticks, mild or hot, diced (approximately 3/4 to 1 cup)
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Bring large oven-proof pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta until desired doneness & drain.
In a medium bowl, mix tomato sauce with spices.
Toss hot, drained pasta back into the pot. Pour the prepared sauce and diced pepperoni into the pasta. Stir until pasta is coated and pepperoni is evenly dispersed.
Top with the grated parmesan and transfer pot to the oven, uncovered. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
Enjoy!