Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Baked Spaghetti

I was first introduced to Baked Spaghetti my freshman year. I was in a group through my church that met off campus during the week and had dinner together prior to breaking into smaller groups for our weekly Bible studies. Leadership was responsible for the food and it was always exciting to have something from off campus (even though our on campus dining was insanely good and quite possibly the best college food in the country -- not just mean, it's been voted on before...) My favorite memory was that when one of the girls in particular was in charge you knew we were going to get Baked Spaghetti, Garlic Bread, and Home-made Banana Pudding. I have never attempted to recreate the amazingness, but tonight I decided to give it a go. I found a recipe via one of the blogs I follow and made a few alterations and have now added Baked Spaghetti to my recipe list.

Baked Spaghetti
Adapted from Heir to Blair
Serves 4 (hungry people)

8 oz spaghetti noodles
8 oz mozzarella cheese
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
12 oz jarred spaghetti sauce
Salt, pepper, Italian seasoning to taste

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare a square baking dish with cooking spray.
  2. Bring a pot of water up to a boil and cook the pasta just a minute or so less than the package instructions.
  3. Brown the beef and onion together in a large skillet.
  4. Add sauce to the skillet and season to taste.
  5. Once the noodles are drained return them to the pot and mix with 1/3 of the sauce so the noodles get coated just a little bit.
  6. Put 1/2 the noodles down in the baking dish and then another 1/3 of the sauce. Sprinkle with half the cheese.
  7. Repeat.
  8. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly.
This was a little light on the sauce for this household, but overall a good, quick, and easy dish. Sure it's pretty much spaghetti and baked ziti mashed up together, but I contend that is okay and they are totally different ;-)

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