Preheat your oven to 350ºF and lightly grease a 9x13” baking dish and set it aside.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over medium high heat. Once the water is boiling, gently pour in the penne pasta. Boil the pasta for about 10-15 minutes, just until the noodles are al-dente, then drain the water from them and set them aside.

While the pasta is cooking, begin browning your ground beef in a large pot or a deep skillet over medium heat. Use a spatula or a wooden spoon to break up the ground beef as it cooks. Cook the meat until there is no longer any pink.

If there is an excessive amount of grease in the skillet, remove some of it with some paper towels. You want about a tablespoon of the grease to help saute your vegetables.

Once there is no more pink in the ground beef, add in your diced onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms. Saute your vegetables for about 3-5 minutes, just until they begin to soften.

Now add in your chopped up pepperoni and fry it with the meat for 1-2 minutes. Next, add in all of your seasonings including the seasoned salt, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Stir them together with the meat mixture until fully incorporated.

Gently add in the ricotta cheese and the marinara sauce and stir it all together with the meat and vegetables until fully combined. Remove the pot from the heat so that you can begin assembling your pasta dish.

To assemble your pasta, add about a ¼ cup of the meat sauce into the bottom of the pre-greased dish and spread it around using the back of a spoon. Now add in some of the cooked pasta, then sprinkle some of the shredded mozzarella cheese on top, then add more of the meat sauce.

Follow with a layer of the pasta, shredded mozzarella cheese, meat sauce, and continue with these layers until you do not have any more ingredients. Make sure that the final layer of pasta is coated in the sauce, and the mozzarella cheese is sprinkled over the top.

Now add the whole slices of pepperoni over the top of the dish (for presentation purposes). Cover the dish with aluminum foil and place it in the oven to bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the foil for the last 5 minutes of baking. Remove the dish from the oven and allow it to sit for at least 5-10 minutes before serving. And Enjoy!