Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti

This recipe is super simple, kid friendly, and easy to adapt to your own tastes. Use a different kind of meat or cheese or add veggies. I've used goat cheese instead of cream cheese for a different texture and flavor and it turned out really yummy! Beef, sausage, and turkey have all worked. To save time, you can also buy a flavored cream cheese and skip the seasonings. Add some crushed red pepper for a little heat.

1 lb ground beef (or ground turkey, sausage, or chicken)

1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce

1 box spaghetti

1 stick of cream cheese (1 tub works too, I like the whipped cream cheese)

2 cloves garlic minced

1 tbsp of Italian seasoning

1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 13x9 pan. Brown your beef in a large skillet until no longer pink. While beef is cooking, cook pasta according to directions on box. Add your jar of sauce to the cooked beef and stir to combine. Set aside. Once pasta is done, drain and add back into hot pot (spray with Pam to avoid the cream cheese sticking). Add the cream cheese, garlic, and seasoning and stir until all pasta is covered. It helps to keep it on low heat to help the cream cheese melt. Stir constantly to avoid burning. Add to your baking dish. Cover pasta with meat sauce. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes, until cheese is bubbly. Serve with bread and a salad or veggie.

If you want to add veggies- chop and cook in separate pan or remove beef, cook the veggies and then add sauce and beef back into pan. Onions, zucchini, bell pepper, eggplant, or spinach would all work here. If adding spinach-add after you put in the sauce and cook until wilted.

xo,

Megan