Cheesy Baked Mexi-Rigatoni

The other night we tried this new recipe after I stared at it for a few days on a few of the food blogs that I read. They all claimed it was delicious and the picture appeared to say the same thing to me. I think the original recipe came from Picky Palate.

Cheesy Baked Mexi-Rigatoni

(my picture doesn't give it much justice!)

1lb Rigatoni

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion finely chopped

2 Anaheim green chili's finely chopped

1 lb lean ground beef

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon Lawry's garlic salt

1 can cheddar cheese soup

1/2 cup milk or half and half

1 cup sour cream

2 15 oz cans diced fire roasted tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves (I ommitted this one because I didn't have it and don't really care for that much cilantro).

2 cups mexican blend cheese shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta and drain. Place olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Saute onions and chiles until softened. Stir in beef, salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Cook and crumble until browned. Stir in soup, milk, sour cream, and tomatoes. Stir until well combined. Reduce heat to low and stir in cilantro and cooked pasta. Pour mixture in lasagna dish. Sprinkle with cheese and bake until cheese is melted and bubbly about 20-25 minutes.

The verdict: It was very good and easy to make! Next time, I may cut back the fire roasted tomatoes to 1 1/2 cans or maybe even 1 can because at times certain bites were overwhelming. We loved it even more for leftovers the next day but we think it was because we were able to pick out the parts of the pasta that we liked the most (i.e. not a scoop with tons of fire roasted tomatoes in it). I'll make it again, but put my own spin on it. If you make it, let me know what you think! :)