Baked Spaghetti Pie

This is what would happen if lasagna and spaghetti had a baby...

Ingredients:

½ package of spaghetti, cooked

1 lb. of lean ground beef or Italian sausage

1 jar spaghetti sauce

2 Tbsp. cottage cheese

2 Tbsp. jalapeno cream cheese

2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese

Italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Cook and drain spaghetti noodles.  In a separate pan, brown and drain your meat.  Mix meat, spaghetti sauce, cottage cheese, cream cheese and 1 cup of shredded cheese. 

Sprinkle with Italian seasoning.  Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray, and then add spaghetti noodles. Top with sauce mixture. Top with the remaining cheese.  Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is golden brown.  Serve with garlic bread and salad.

The original recipe did not call for the cottage or cream cheese but I’m glad I added it. You could do Ricotta too.  They added a nice creamy element to the mixture.  This made a 9x13 pan and was super filling. I’ve been eating leftovers for days and even took some to a friend to have. Next time I will try it with sausage instead of beef for some extra flavor.  

Baked Italian Casserole

Ingredients:

8 ounces rotini pasta

1/2 lb. ground beef

1/4 onion, diced

1 tablespoon minced garlic

12 ounces spaghetti sauce

8 ounces cottage cheese

8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 teaspoon italian seasoning

1/4 pound sliced pepperoni

1 can (2.25 ounce) sliced black olives with jalapenos, drained (optional)

1 can (4 ounce) mushrooms, drained (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook the pasta according to the package.  Brown the meat with onions and garlic. Drain noodles and meat.  Add spaghetti sauce and layer in bottom of greased 9x13 pan. If you would like to add the mushrooms or olives, mix in as well.  I chose not to add either.  Mix cottage cheese, Italian seasoning and shredded cheese together.   Spread on top of the noodle and meat mixture.  Top with pepperonis.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbling.

I didn’t have rotini noodles so I used elbow macaroni which tasted just fine.  The flavors tasted even better together the next day when warmed up for lunch.