Cosmopolitan Hamburger Pasta Casserole

I say Cosmopolitan because it *is* quite diverse.

First of all, i'm using half of the meatloaf I made 2 days ago because my brother's sick of eating meatloaf  (i, on the other hand, could eat the same thing over and over again.  thank you college, thank you.)

anyway, to be merciful (and because I'm bored), i decided to make something else.

cut up a quarter onion; mixed it up with meatloaf** that i broke up with my hand.  (about 2 cups of cooked meat)

sliced 5 red potatoes (with a mandolin)

oiled a glass casserole dish

lined the bottom with one layer of sliced potatoes ** (in a slight overlap style)

sprinkled half the meat+onion mixture

added 1/2 bag of left over Trader Joe's uncooked Pennette  (just thinner non-ridged penne that i accidentally bought instead of penne)

sprinkled on the rest of the meat+onion mixture

put the rest of the potatoes lined on top (about 1 very overlapped layer)

poured 1 jar of 1/2 alfredo sauce and 1/2 chopped tomatoes over everything.  added 3/4 jar of trader joe's creamy alfredo sauce.  [overall liquid quotient ~3 cups?] **

grated some frozen gouda** and sprinkled it over everything.  (oh about.. 1/2 cup?  i like to go more with cheese though)

stuck it into a 350 degree oven. for.. i dono. the longer the better for semi-al dente pasta.  let's say.. 45 min?

it's not done yet.

OH SHOOT I FORGOT TO ADD CRUSHED RED PEPPER (a must for any dinner item)

**subs

normally you'd just use ground meat instead of.. meatloaf. and you'd cook the meat with the onions and if you're extra shmancy, you'd add garlic and crushed red pepper and maybe a chopped jalapeno or two.

instead of sliced potatoes, tater tots work wonders.

you could use 1-2 8oz cans of cream of mushroom (which we didn't have) instead of the creamy alfredo mixture.

you could use cheddar cheese ... in fact cheddar cheese makes it more "hamburger-y"  .. i just used gouda b/c that's all i had.  (i know, so gourmet.  not)

you could use any kinda cheese really..

you could also just nix the pasta.  but.. my poor carb-deprived brother.  he needs the carbs.

you could probably add broccoli... or .... i mean what the heck, this is a casserole; throw in anything if you have to!

edit//  the alfredo sauce is REALLY salty. like almost to the point of blech.    and the mixture with sweet meatloaf is sort of weird.

so. i guess this goes under....

FAIL!

(unless you like salty things) .. which some people do)

at least it looks appetizing: