** This meal is from the 30 Day Gourmet freezer meals site. I hope you and your family enjoy it!**
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
12 oz. Spaghetti COOKED (I cook till slightly Under-done) and broken into 2 inch pieces
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
2 T. butter
12 oz. can of tomato paste
1 1/2 c. water
1 T. dried oregano
1 1/2 t. garlic powder
1 T. sugar
24 oz. cottage cheese (any variety)
3 3/4 c. COOKED and drained ground beef (*1 lb. UNcooked beef= 2 1/2 c cooked beef*)
8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
Assembly Directions:
Cook Spaghetti till slightly UNDER-done. Drain and place in the bottom of a lightly greased 9x13 pan. In separate bowl, mix melted butter, beaten egg, and Parmesan cheese and a little salt and pepper to taste. (Note: beat egg first, then add melted butter SLOWLY and whisking well, then add the other ingredients. Do this so you don't scramble the eggs)
spread this mixture over the noodles. Layer the cottage cheese over this layer.
In a separate bowl, combine tomato paste, water, oregano, garlic powder and sugar. Add cooked, DRAINED ground beef. Layer tomato mixture over cottage cheese.
Freezing and Cooking Directions:
To Freeze: Wrap pan in heavy duty Aluminum foil or put pan down inside a 2 gallon freezer bag. Put mozzarella cheese in a separate freezer bag. Label and freeze.
To serve: Thaw casserole and place on a cookie sheet. Bake COVERED at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes,(during last 10 minutes, remove foil and add mozzarella cheese, then return to oven for remaining cook time). Can be cooked from from frozen, just follow same instructions and increase the cooking time to 55-60 minutes.
I know you're not in our group, Tish, but this sound delicious!! :)
ReplyDeleteWe baked this (like you said in your email) for almost 2hrs and dish was thawed. I'm not sure why, but this was not a favorite for our family. I have a very similar recipe and thought this would be perfect but the kids only took a couple bites and said no thank you. The freezer meals haven't been going well with them but this one surprised me. It had a sweet flavor and maybe the weren't expecting that...I HAVE NO IDEA!!! This recipe made a lot. Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteThis freezer meal was a life-saver last week! I ran out of time and just threw it into the oven frozen on my way out the door. 3 hours later we topped it with cheese and it was ready to eat. We did all enjoy it, however it seemed to need more sauce, so for the leftovers (of which there were plenty for a second meal) I poured a jar of spaghetti sauce over it. It seemed to help. Thanks so much!!
ReplyDelete