All the food and fitness magazines often pump up protein into the magic element in your diet that will boost your metabolism and make you magically skinny.

I’m in to it.

I am personally not a huge meat eater, so I am finding myself more and more paranoid about getting enough protein. Not quite sure the hummus with lunch is going to cut it if I want to focus on weight loss and building muscle.

And lord knows there is only so much crock-pot chicken breast I can eat.

Enter: the pepperoni pasta bake.

This recipe was adapted from HERE.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb whole wheat pasta
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 onion, finely diced
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups marinara sauce
• 1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
• 30 pepperonis, sliced into halves
• fresh basil leaves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 °F.

Boil a pot of water and cook the pasta.

While pasta is cooking, add olive oil in a skillet on medium-high. Toss in chopped onion and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and oregano and cook for 1 minute, stirring occasionally Remove from heat.

Drain the pasta and return to the pot.

Stir in onions/garlic and the marinara sauce, diced tomatoes, most of Mozzarella, and the pepperonis. Mix.

Transfer the pasta mix to a greased baking dish.

Sprinkle with remaining Mozzarella. Bake uncovered for about 25 minutes.

Garnish with fresh basil and serve.

Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas at Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!