Million Dollar Spaghetti

I follow Joyful Momma's Blog on Bloglovin, and one of the things I like most about the recipes she posts is that they are normal, nothing weird, and generally fall in line with a lot of the stuff that I enjoy cooking and that Patrick enjoys eating. Her recipes are simple, straightforward, and I enjoy most of the ingredients she uses-and all of the recipes are kid and family-friendly.

She posted a recipe last week for Million Dollar Spaghetti, which sounded easy and delish. The last thing that sold me on it was that she uses it as a freezer meal too! So I decided to try it and freeze half the recipe.

 I also used her picture, because I did a big blogger

fail and forgot to take a pic of the final product.

Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole

Ingredients

• 16 oz spaghetti noodles
• 2 lb jar of marinara sauce
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups shredded cheese ( I use cheddar/colby blend)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8X8 pans.
2. Boil noodles according to package, drain and stir with a drizzle of olive oil so they don't stick together.
3. In a bowl combine cream cheese, cottage cheese, and sour cream. Mix well and set aside.
4. Brown ground beef and onion until no longer pink. Drain. Add in jar of marinara sauce and stir.
5. Begin by layering half of the noodles in the bottom of your greased pans.
6. Top with 2/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese (1/3 in each of the 8x8 pans)
7. Layer on the cream cheese mixture.
8. Top with remaining noodles.
9. Spread marinara sauce with ground beef over top.
10. Bake for 30 minutes then sprinkle with 2 cups cheese (1 cup over each 8x8 pan) and return to oven for another 15 minutes.
11. Let sit for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
12. Enjoy!

*For freezing: I didn't bake the second casserole. I stopped at putting the beef/marinara mixture on top, then covered it with the Reynold's plastic baking dish cover. I wrote the rest of the directions in a sharpie on top of the clear plastic lid it came with, that way when I pull it out of the freezer, all I have to do is follow instructions 10-12.

I fed this to Patrick and a friend he had helping him haul hay. They both loved it. I asked Patrick if he would eat it if I made it again, to which he replied, "Hell yeah!" That's a win folks...this is one I'll definitely be making again.