Creamy Beef and Penne with Vegetables

Eons ago when I thought I was a good cook, and my husband did too, but in reality what I did was fake it with processed foods and shortcuts that may or may not have worked, I made a pasta dish I'd found in a magazine.  It had stew beef, mostaccioli pasta, and lots of vegetables.  I remember it being good, but for some reason I never made it again.

Now being gluten free, one of the things I really miss and struggle to recreate are pasta dishes.  But recently I found a gluten free penne we all enjoy, so I've been able to make more pasta dishes than I have been making the last year.  Also recently, I found the original recipe for the mostaccioli dish from long ago.  Seemed like good timing to try to make it again with my own twist this time.

Mostaccioli and penne are similar, so no worries there subbing one for the other.  The original recipe called for round steak cut into thin strips.  Because my husband did my shopping for me when I needed to buy the beef, I just told him to get stew beef.  Once I started to cook, I cut it up into small pieces.  Remember those tablespoon dollops of chilis in adobo sauce I froze a while back?  I used about half of one of those for a nice spicy smokey kick.

Creamy Beef and Penne with Vegetables

1 1/2 cups uncooked penne
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound stew beef, cut into small bite sized pieces
1 onion, cut in quarters and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons all purpose or gluten free flour
1 tomato, cut into bite sized pieces
1 bell pepper, cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup quartered mushrooms
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper
3/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons sauce from can of chili in adobe sauce or chilis and sauce blended together

Cook penne according to package directions, drain.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Add oil, then beef and onions.  Saute until beef is brown.  Sprinkle flour over beef and stir until blended.

Add remainder of vegetables, basil, thyme, and salt and pepper.  Saute 5-8 minutes or until vegetables are just tender, stirring occasionally.

Mix together sour cream and chilis.  Stir into vegetable and meat mixture and cook until bubbly.  Toss in pasta and stir to combine.

Serves 4.