Baked Spaghetti

I often receive suggestions from friends and family about which recipes to include on my blog.  That’s how this one came about.  I’ve used this recipe for years, but hadn’t thought about putting it on my blog until my friend Lori suggested it.  She reminded me that I’d given her this recipe years ago and she has made it over and over again.  So here it is Lori!  If you enjoy spaghetti, you’ll love it made like this.  This is an easy one-dish meal that is a comfort food through and through!  Serve it with a tossed salad and garlic bread and you’ve got some good eating!  This is a favorite one-dish meal at our house.

Ingredients:

16 oz. pkg. spaghetti (if you are watching your carbs, use Dreamfield Pasta)

1 lb. ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

1 (26 oz.) jar meatless spaghetti sauce

1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

2 eggs

1/3 cup fresh Parmesan  cheese, grated

5 Tablespoons margarine, softened

1 (16 oz) container small-curd cottage cheese (or the same amount of ricotta if you prefer)

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, grated

Directions:

Cook ground beef and onion together until meat is done and onion is tender.  Drain off fat.

While meat cooks, boil spaghetti in salted water according to the directions on the package.

Add the pasta sauce to the cooked and drained ground beef.  Stir in the seasoned salt and set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine eggs, Parmesan cheese, and softened butter. Stir together and set aside.

Drain spaghetti when done.

Stir the Parmesan, butter, egg mixture into the drained pasta.  Mix rapidly so as not to cook the eggs.

Place half of the pasta mixture into a greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

Top with half the cottage cheese mixture,

Half of the meat sauce,

and half of the grated mozzarella (2 cups).  Repeat the layers in same order; rest of pasta mixture, rest of cottage cheese mixture, rest of meat sauce,  remaining two cups of mozzarella cheese, then sprinkle additional fresh Parmesan on top.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Uncover and bake for 20-25 minutes longer or until cheese is melted and casserole is lightly browned.  This can be assembled the day before and refrigerated, it would just increase the baking time by a few extra minutes.