Very Cheesy Veggie Pasta

On chilly days like today, a nice hot pasta dish makes a great meal! And since this Very Cheesy Veggie Pasta is particularly cheesy, I would even say it qualifies as comfort food! 🙂 And the bonus in this dish is that there are some veggies in it too! Win win win! 🙂

This pasta dish was kind of an experiment. I had some extra rotini pasta and wanted to make a casserole with it…something cheesy, but with some veggies in it, too. I also like crumbly toppings. So I tried combining all of that into this pasta dish. This works great as a main dish or side dish for lunch or dinner. And your kids may actually eat this, since all that cheese somewhat disguises the veggies! 🙂

I used thawed frozen veggies in this dish but you could also used canned. And I’m sure fresh veggies would work great, too—just blanch or steam them so they’re a little tender before mixing them in with the other ingredients. The Bread Crumb Topping makes a lot of topping, so if you just want a light sprinkle of it to top off your casserole, you can halve the topping recipe.

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VERY CHEESY VEGGIE PASTA by NancyC

Makes a 9 x 9″ pan; about 5 to 6 servings

2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
8 ounces dry rotini pasta, cooked and drained
2 cups of your favorite frozen vegetables, thawed and drained well (I used a broccoli, cauliflower, green been, carrot blend)
1/2 cup milk
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed Cream of Mushroom or Cream of Chicken soup
3 cups (12 ounces) shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
EXTRA CHEESE TOPPING: 1/4 to 1/2 cup shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese and 1/4 to 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

BREAD CRUMB TOPPING (halve the amount if you don’t want a lot of topping)

1 1/2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup plain dry bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Preheat oven to 400˚F. Grease or spray a 9 x 9″ baking dish.

In large bowl, combine melted butter, onion and garlic powders, and Italian Seasoning; blend well. Add in the cooked and drained pasta and thawed vegetables, and toss them in the melted butter/seasoning mixture until pasta and veggies are coated.

In a medium bowl, mix together the milk and condensed soup (undiluted), blending well. Add in the Cheddar cheese and Parmesan cheese, blending well. Mix this soup/cheese mixture into the pasta and veggie mixture, and blend everything together well. Then spread into the prepared 9 x 9″ baking dish. Sprinkle the extra Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses (1/4 to 1/2 cup each) evenly over top of pasta.

In small bowl, combine the ingredients for the Bread Crumb Topping—melted butter, bread crumbs, Italian seasoning and garlic powder. Sprinkle evenly over the pasta and cheeses.

Bake at 400˚F for 20 minutes (crumbs will be browned). Remove from oven and serve. NOTE: If you’d like to have less browning on the crumb topping, cover with foil the last 5 to 10 minutes of baking.

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