Great Recipe for Baked Spaghetti

Happy Thursday. Last night I went out for some "me" time and E slept from 6:45pm until 8am this morning. I did wake him up at 10pm to feed him to try to avoid any night wakings -- and it worked! So I had a nice night out and M just had J to watch! Was a win-win situation all around. I think I'm going to start not waking him up for that last feeding before I go to bed and see if he can go all night. We'll see...wish us luck.

We got so many awesome meals when Chunk was born, and this was perhaps my favorite. I wanted to post it in case others might want to try it. It's super easy -- I mean heck, I can make it! The girl that made it substituted cottage cheese for the ricotta. Now, I was raised to snub anyone that would ever dream of using cottage cheese instead of ricotta. The thought turned my stomach! But after demolishing the entire dish in about 2 days (it makes quite a lot of food!), I learned it was cottage cheese all along. I made this last week and waited until M had an enormous 2nd helping to tell him the true ingredient. He still likes it!

In addition to the cottage cheese, she used Ragu pasta sauce. That is another "never use" ingredient in our Italian dishes. M makes incredible homemade sauce and it's next to impossible for us to find a good jarred sauce. Well lo and behold, this girl used Ragu. And so, I tried it last week as well and it really was good. It was a chunky variety, so maybe that helped? I don't know. The jar was only $1.58, so it was even cheaper than doing it homemade. Don't know if we'll always use Ragu for it, but heck...it tasted so great! Enjoy!

BAKED SPAGHETTI

1/2 package (8 oz.) spaghetti, cooked and drained
2 tablespoons butter OR margarine
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 container (24 oz.) ricotta cheese OR cottage cheese
1 pound ground beef
1 jar (about 28 oz) chunky garden-style pasta sauce
1 package (8 oz) shredded Mozzarella cheese

PREHEAT oven to 400 degrees.

COMBINE hot cooked spaghetti with butter, stir until butter melts and coats
spaghetti. Add 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese; stir to coat. Arrange
spaghetti in an even layer in 9x13 pan. Spread ricotta/cottage cheese over
spaghetti. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

BROWN ground beef, drain; add pasta sauce and heat until bubbly.
Spoon over cheeses. Top with Mozzarella cheese and remaining Parmesan
cheese. Cover with non-stick foil.

BAKE for 30 minutes. Remove foil cover and continue baking 15 minutes
or until cheese is lightly browned. Let stand 15 minutes before
serving.