This casserole is something my mom always made for us when I was growing up. This is what I think of when I think “family recipe”. This is a homey, non-fancy casserole, but it’s great to make ahead and is excellent left over. I usually make it just before we go on vacation, so whoever is staying over with Ginger has something they can just reheat for dinner. I put the casserole together yesterday, and just popped it in the oven to cook tonight. It consists of layers of shell pasta, ground meat mixture (ground turkey, mushrooms, tomatoes, onion, garlic), sour cream, and cheese (cheddar and mozzarella). The casserole obtained its name from an Italian I used to know, who was making reference to my heritage. I think the name fits.
– I’ve made a few changes to the casserole over the years, including switching to ground turkey instead of ground beef, I use fresh mushrooms instead of canned, and I used canned diced tomatoes instead of stewed tomatoes. I can think of a few other things to make it even better – fresh tomatoes in the summer, and fresh mozzarella.
– This is my best chocolate chip cookie so far. I have a few other recipes I’d like to try. The secret is good, fresh butter, and high quality chocolate chunks. I add walnuts to mine.

• Polish Lasagna (Sheri’s Recipe Box)
• Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (Fine Cooking #56, March 2003, p. 55)