Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti

Here's another pinterest find! Yummy!! I loved this because with my diet for gestational diabetes, I was able to have pasta with lots of protein added in! Mmmmm....

This is another recipe that I doubled...one to bake that night and one to freeze. I cooked my own sauce in the crockpot all day and used it instead of jarred sauce. The recipe only calls for a 1/2 cup of sauce, so I was able to freezer the rest of the sauce for future meals!

Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti

8 oz uncooked spaghetti

1 lb. ground beef (I use ground turkey)

1 (26.5 oz) jar spaghetti sauce

1 Tbsp. butter or margarine

1/2 cup green peppers, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

8 oz cream cheese

2 Tbsp. milk

grated Parmesan cheese

 Small can of French Fried Onions

DIRECTIONS:

Cook spaghetti; drain and set aside.

Brown ground beef; drain grease. Add sauce to beef and heat.

Combine onions, peppers, and butter in microwavable bowl. Cover and microwave for 4 minutes until soft.

Add cream cheese and milk to veggies and mix well.

Assemble casserole in 10x6 dish. Place a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the dish. Place spaghetti on the sauce. Top spaghetti with cream cheese mixture. Add the rest of the spaghetti sauce. Top with your desired amount of Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Top with fried onions and bake an additional 5 minutes. Don't let them burn!

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To freeze: Prepare casserole ahead of time and freeze without the fried onions.

Recipe Source

Turkey Parmesan Meatloaf

With our second baby due to arrive in 9 weeks, I've been working on stocking our garage freezer with meals. I have found so many recipes through pinterest lately, and they have all been new favorites! This one is no exception. I made it last night and put another loaf in the freezer for later.

The original recipe calls for ground chicken, but we like and use ground turkey at our house.

Turkey Parmesan Meatloaf

1 lb. ground turkey (or ground chicken)
1 egg
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, grated
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup pasta sauce (either homemade or store bought)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a loaf pan with cooking spray, set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the ground chicken, egg, breadcrumbs, thyme, oregano, basil, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese. To not over handle the mixture otherwise it will get tough. Place the mixture in the greased loaf pan and form into a loaf. Top meatloaf with pasta sauce.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove the meatloaf from the oven and sprinkle the top with the remaining shredded cheese. Place the meatloaf back in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted.

Remove meatloaf from oven and let it sit 5-10 minutes before slicing.

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To Freeze:

Prepare meatloaf and place in loaf pan. Do not top with pasta sauce. Freeze loaf and sauce separately.

Thaw completely, top meatloaf with sauce and bake per directions above.

Recipe source