Pasta E Fagioli

from a set of recipes I received at a Cooking Class at Oasis Medical Center
I will list the ingredients as they were written (with my tweaks in parentheses)

INGREDIENTS:
2-16 ounce cans of tomatoes (since they didnt specify, I used my favorite, petite diced, drained of juice....not sure if draining was a good idea or not...)
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp chopped parsley (instead of the oregano and parsley I used 1 1/2 tsp italian seasoning)
1 clove minced garlic (I used 2....we love garlic!)
2 15 ounce cans red kidney beans, drained (I used light red....next time I might use cannelini beans...which are WHITE kidney beans and not quite as tough)
1 bay leaf (didnt have any, so didnt use)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 can mushroom pieces, optional (opted NOT to use!)
8 ounces of your choice noodles (I used ww rotini, but penne, macaroni, bowties etc would work too...not sure about stringy pasta like spaghetti)


Bring all ingredients of a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Cook and drain pasta according to directions. Remove bay leaf from sauce mixture and combine sauce and noodles in a 3 qt casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. (I would suggest stirring after 10 minutes because the top noodles got a little dry....but that might not have happened if I had kept the juice with the tomatoes instead of draining. I also added some shredded cheese after the 20 minutes and put it back into the oven until melted.)