since my grandma and i are home alone for christmas eve, thought i'd cook up something easy and simple for the both of us. my lola eats so little that she only wants to get a taste of everything we concoct in the kitchen. lazy as i am to do grocery shopping during the holidays, i managed to makesomething out of what we have in the pantry!

i am determined to experiment and merge two recipes i've been wanting to cook the past week. i finally decided to do my baked penne with a mexican taco twist! i wasn't very happy with the chicken and spinach pasta at "mom and tina's" last saturday, so thought i'd bake something similar and hopefully do a better job at it.

voila! my mexican taco baked penne is such a hit! i tossed in some mushrooms and lots of black olives with lean ground beef, and finished my three cheese prego sauce with milk and cream. i layered some ramekins with beef, pasta, and sauce, and topped them with thinly sliced feta cheese! baked for a few minutes and they were just about perfect :)