The Leftovers' Project: a Spaghetti Casserole

The culprit: the leftover pasta from the night before, when you hosted a few friends and went way off on quantities as always.

The solution: a casserole. Which, you will notice, is my solution for pretty much everything during the winter season. It sounds much more appealing to me than a bland container of leftover pasta.

I can happily say that this recipe was so simple to throw together, I will definitely save it for sick days or days that are so busy you barely remember to brush your hair before leaving the house (kidding, in my case my hair goes Hagrid and heavy very quickly and it is no option to skip it). Now. Get your baking dishes ready, it's casserole o'clock.

You will need,

Chicken broth (1/2 cup)

However much of leftover pasta you have on hand

Diced tomatoes (1 cup- you can replace both above with 1 cup of pasta sauce)

Flour (2 tbsp)

Yellow onion (1, chopped)

Scallions (4, thinly sliced)

Zucchini (1, chopped)

Celery ribs (4-5, thinly sliced)

Any shredded cheese (1 cup- approximately, I used mozzarella)

You are welcome to add a cup of Parmesan throughout the preparation and sprinkled over the dish but I was out.

Egg (1)

Also welcomed: thinly sliced carrots, mushrooms, red onions, parsnips, kale, the list goes on!

A few simple steps,

1. In a medium-sized skillet over medium heat, throw in olive oil, salt and pepper with the chopped zucchini, onion and celery. Stir for 5-7 minutes.

2. Add the flour and stir for about 30 seconds, covering all ingredients. It will ensure a creamy consistency for your sauce.

3. Add chicken broth and stir. Right away, add in the diced tomatoes. Reduce the heat and let simmer for about 15 minutes while stirring frequently. Add salt and pepper for taste.

4. In a separate bowl, mix half of the cheese, the egg and the pasta together. Place in baking dish.

5. Pour the vegetable sauce over the pasta and spread with a spatula, covering all the pasta.

6. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese (fair enough, I went over 1 cup in total) over the dish.

7. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes covered and then uncovered for about 5 minutes, allowing the cheese to brown a bit.

It all started with the idea to get rid of excess pasta,

And it ended up (maybe, maybe not) as my breakfast.