Spaghetti Pepperoni Bake

When David and I were students at Utah State, we discovered that you could buy pepperoni at Sams Club in GIANT bags for super super cheap. Like eight pounds of pepperoni for under $10. (A regular package of pepperoni is like $3-4 for 7 oz.) We totally bought it, separated it into smaller bags, froze them, and had enough pepperoni to last us forever. We ate a lot of pizza during that time of our lives. (I'd leave rhodes rolls on the counter in the morning and then whip up some personal pizzas when we got home at night.) We also started exploring all of the other things that you could do with pepperoni. We found this recipe and it has become a much loved favorite. (I don't even know where to source it back to, because it was so long ago - but it's a simple recipe. I'm sure you can find them all over the web.) This is nice when you want something slightly nicer than spaghetti (read: having guests over but still want a simple meal) or when you have some leftover mozzarella in the fridge.

Spaghetti Pepperoni Bake

Ingredients: 

1 bottle Prego spaghetti sauce
1 (8 oz.) pkg. spaghetti, cooked al dente and drained
1 (4 oz.) pkg. pepperoni, thinly sliced
8 oz. Mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 2 c.)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine sauce and spaghetti. Arrange half of the spaghetti in bottom of 9x13 dish. Top with half the pepperoni and sprinkle with half the cheeses. Repeat layering with remaining spaghetti, pepperoni, and cheese. I also like to add a coating of parmesan cheese to the very top. (Can be prepared ahead to this point and refrigerated.) Bake until heated through, about 25 to 30 minutes. Serve immediately. Serves 6 to 8.

*Note: this is an awesome meal for just making however much you want. I don't usually make a full 9x13 dish I usually make a 5x8 dish with leftover spaghetti, leftover sauce, and whatever extra cheese and pepperoni I have on hand. It's better with more cheese and pepperoni, but the other day I made it with 12 pieces of pepperoni and it was still delicious. So definitely a meal where you can adjust according to whatever you have on hand.