Rejoicing in Recipes: Ground Turkey Casserole

Last night, friends came over for a potluck-type dinner. Our friend, Marty, is Addy's godfather and since we weren't able to get together last weekend, they came over last night with a present for her. Marty's wife and I decided we'd just make what we were going to for our families' dinners and just combine them and pass around. So glad we did! She made yummy sandwiches from Hawaiian bread and a chicken salad mixture inside....with avocado in it! Arthur was in heaven. :) I found and made a casserole using ground turkey that I had in the fridge thawing. I changed several items, and the recipe below is my final rendition of it. We don't like mushrooms here, so they were omitted from our take on the recipe. It was very easy and most everything in the recipe is stuff I had stockpiled, so I was very happy to make it and not worry if I had the ingredients. :) Dinner was delicious, although a bit crowded and loud. :) That's what it is to have 9 people around a table for 6! It was great fellowship with them, though, and the kids had a blast together!

Ground Turkey Casserole

1 lb ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped (i had some frozen)
1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped (i had some frozen)
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped (i had some frozen)
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups water
16 oz pasta sauce (or use tomato sauce and add your own seasonings)
12 oz uncooked egg noodles (i had thin ones on hand but the wide would be fine as well)
2 cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Brown turkey with onion, celery and peppers until veggies are very tender. (Because my celery and peppers came from the freezer, they ended up almost totally mushy by the time the onion was tender....which is fine for us because Arthur doesn't really like to be able to crunch on veggies. So picky!)
Add in tomatoes, water and sauce and simmer for 10 minutes.
Grease 9x13 baking dish. Place uncooked noodles in dish. Pour meat/sauce mixture over noodles, making sure no noodles stick out above the sauce (they will get burnt or really crunchy if not covered by the sauce). Sprinkle cheese over top. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes and check to make sure cheese is not burning. (original recipe said 45 minutes, but i found the cheese to be getting very dark at 40 minutes, and the noodles had finished cooking, so I stopped at the 40 minute mark)

Enjoy!