American Chop Suey

As always, the What is dedicated to presenting you with colorful ideas for everyday life. Many of our ideas are food-related, because we love food. Learning how to cook for yourself now that you no longer have your mom or your meal plan to provide your meals can seem like a daunting task. We at the What are here to show you that cooking can be fun, easy, and rewarding by offering up recipes like this from our personal cookbooks. As is the case with most of our recipe-based ideas, this one is simple and delicious, just like us.

American Chop Suey

Recently I found myself lamenting that my cooking skills were limited to summertime meals and I began looking for different recipes to try out to expand my culinary horizons. Then I had American Chop Suey. This delectable dish, popular in the Northeastern section of the country, has always been a favorite of mine, yet for some reason, I had forgotten about it. The meal is incredibly simple to put together, and you likely already have everything you need to make it.


Ingredients 
EVOO
Pasta (Penne and rigatoni both work, elbow macaroni is probably your best bet)
1 bell pepper
Onion
Shredded mozzarella
Grated Parmesan/Romano cheese
Garlic
Oregano
Tomato Sauce
1 lb. Ground Beef or Morning Star Meal Starter Crumbles
TODAY'S SECRET INGREDIENT IS: Mushrooms

Directions

1. Boil the pasta. It's pretty simple.
2. Chop the pepper, onion, and mushrooms. You can decide how much you use of each. If you don't have minced garlic, chop up a clove of garlic while you're at it. These will henceforth be known as "the veggies."
3. Pre-heat the oven to 350.
4. Brown the beef or heat the crumbles.
5. Coat the bottom of a baking pan with tomato sauce.
6. Add a layer of meat.
7. Add a layer of the veggies.
8. Add a layer of cooked pasta.
9. Repeat steps five through eight.
10. Top with an additional layer of sauce and the shredded mozzarella, covering the entire casserole. Sprinkle some oregano and grated cheese on there to taste. And, well, what the heck, sprinkle on some garlic powder while you're at it. I have yet to discover such a thing as "too much garlic."
11. Pop the pan in that hot oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly browned.

This meal is cheap, quick, simple, and sure to be a crowd-pleaser. It also can feed quite the crowd, for that matter. Serve it up with some garlic bread and you're good to go!