Make Ahead Italian Sausage and Pasta Bake

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs Italian sausage(mild or hot)
olive oil (optional)
2 onions, coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 large sweet red pepper, coarsely chopped
28 ounces meatless extra chunky pasta sauce
213 ml can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
5 cups penne pasta
1(284g)package fresh spinach(trimmed and coarsely chopped)
3 cups shredded provolone cheese or mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated asiago cheese or parmesan cheese

Directions

1 Cut sausage into 1/2 inch chunks. I large skillet, brown sausage over medium-high heat, in batches and adding oil if necessary. Transfer sausage to a bowl.
2 Pour off any fat from pan. Add onions, garlic and red pepper, cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in pasta sauce, tomato sauce, basil, oregano and fennel seeds; bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pan. Return sausage and any accumulated juices to pan; cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until sausage is firm throughout.
3 Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta for 6 minutes, add spinach;cook for 1 minute. Drain well and return to pot. Add sausage mixture and provolone/mozzarella cheese; stir to combine well.
4 Transfer to 2 greased 8-inch square baking dishes or 1 13x9-inch dish. Sprinkle with Asiago/parmesan cheese. Cover dish with greased foil, greased side down.
5 To serve: Bake, covered with foil, in in 375 degree F. oven for 30 minutes or for 1 hour if from the refrigerator. This freezes beautifully (thaw in refrigerator before baking).

***** 5 stars for yummyness
***** 5 stars for "my kid" friendly
**** 4 stars for ease

This is wonderful! I forgot the spinach and didn't have any fennel seeds so the one I made did not have that stuff and it was still fantastic! I don't know that I will ever add those two things as it was SO fantastic without it! As leftovers is was dare I say even better?~! Love this recipe and it will probably be served in my house every 4-6 weeks!