Cheesy Italian Baked Spaghetti

As a homemaker, I am always on the look out for fresh ideas for baking and cooking. If you are anything like me, you know that being responsible for 2 or 3 meals a day, besides having healthy snacks and drinks available for any time of day, can, if left unchecked, become rather mundane and drab. It takes a lot of planning and creativity to come up with ideas for meals!

Recently I’ve been challenging myself to try a new main dish at least once a week. Since I usually get groceries only once a month, I try to use what I have on hand instead of running to the store for something that I didn’t plan for.

It’s easy for me to get away from meal planning, especially since I’ve been doing it for about 5 years now! It’s almost like second nature to me now to just come up with something quickly instead of planning ahead, but I find that the best meals are still the ones that I’ve planned ahead for and prepared for.

Meal planning doesn’t have to be anything fancy, unless, of-course if you want it to be. For me, it’s as simple as a lined notebook and a pen. Sometimes I will search Pinterest for food ideas but I also come up with my own based on what food we have available at home for the week.

My new main dish for this week was this Italian Spaghetti dish that takes the meaning of spaghetti to a new level. I was quite pleased that we had everything on hand that I needed to make this. Actually, I kind of made it up as I went along, with the help of some ideas from Pinterest. 🙂

To make a complete meal, make a nice salad with greens and vegetables and your favorite dressing. I served ours with homemade garlic toast and fresh , cooked beets with butter and salt. It was fabulous!

This is also an easy dish that the whole family will love. It would also be a great dish to make if you need an easy idea for guests or for potluck. Happy Cooking! 🙂

Cheesy Italian Baked Spaghetti

Yield: 8 servings

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Loaded with the all flavors of cheese, pasta sauce and Italian sausage.

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Ingredients

• 1 pound uncooked spaghetti noodles
• 1 pound Italian sausage
• 2 cloves garlic
• 5 or 6 fresh, chopped mushrooms
• 2 handfuls of fresh spinach
• one 24 ounce jar of pasta sauce or marinara sauce
• 16 ounces cottage cheese
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• Cheese options...sharp cheddar, parmesan, ricotta cheese, mozzarella

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large pot, on high heat, boil water and add spaghetti until cooked. After its done, drain off the water. Put the spaghetti back into the pot and set aside.
3. In a medium frying pan, fry the sausage, garlic cloves, spinach and mushrooms until browned. Chop the sausage into small pieces and fry on low heat, stirring to make sure that all the meat and vegetables get mixed in evenly.
4. Add the meat and vegetables to the cooked spaghetti. Add the sauce and stir until everything is mixed in well.
5. Pour the spaghetti mixture into a medium casserole dish, about an 8 by 8 size.
6. Using the cream cheese, cut it into small, bite-size pieces and distribute it evenly over the casserole, pushing some of the chunks into the noodles. Cover that with a good layer of cottage cheese. Layer your cheese of choice on top of that. I used yellow, sharp cheddar, shredded from a 2 pound block. Make sure you have a good amount of cheese.
7. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
8. After 30 minutes, remove it from the stove and remove the foil. Garnish the top with parsley or chives and bake for another 10 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and slightly browned.
9. Let the casserole sit for about 5 minutes than serve.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 641Total Fat: 29gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 69mgSodium: 1270mgCarbohydrates: 62gFiber: 5gSugar: 11gProtein: 31g

Nutrition information is not guaranteed accurate.