Pasta is my weakness. During my weight gain, pasta and bread would be my go to foods. Now since my weight loss, I usually avoid bread (a rule is NO bread in the house.) Though I still do occasionally make pasta…all in moderation of course. I wanted to have spaghetti for dinner, but having the same ole noodles with the same ole sauce can get bland. I found this recipe for baked spaghetti and figured I would make my own version. I took out and added some ingredients. The prep time was about 15-20 minutes and bake time 30 minutes. I prepared the dish earlier in the day and let it chill in the refrigerator for a couple hours then threw it in the oven and in a half hour it was done. This was my first time making baked spaghetti and it was divine. I still have leftovers 3 days later. The key ingredient are the french fried onions, they are a must! This recipe is a keeper and now a new comfort food of mine.
Add 1 tbs. of butter and 1/3 cup chopped onion in a glass dish
Microwave for 20-30 seconds, or until melted
Brown the ground beef and prepare the spaghetti noodles according to package
In a separate bowl, add the cream cheese and milk
Mix until well-blended and soft. I used a whisk.
Add the tomato sauce to skillet and heat until warm
After straining the ground beef, add to skillet and mix with tomato sauce
Add the butter/onion mixture to the cream cheese and milk. Mix well.
Start layering with a thin layer of beef mixture
Then add all of the cooked noodles
Smooth cream cheese mixture over the noodles, as even as possible
Top with remaining beef mixture
Sprinkle as much parmesan cheese as you want, to your taste
Bake for 25 minutes, add french fried onions and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Let cool and serve.
 Ingredients:
- 1 29oz. Tomato sauce can
- 1 1lb. ground beef of chuck
- Grated parmesan cheese
- Small bag of french fried onions
- 1/3 cup chopped onion
- 2 tbs. fat free skim milk
- 1 tbs. butter
- 1 8oz cream cheese
- 1 13.25oz whole wheat spaghetti noodles
Directions:
- Cook spaghetti according to directions on the package, drain and set aside.
- Brown ground beef. Drain excess grease. Add spaghetti sauce to skillet and heat.
- Combine onion and butter in small glass bowl. Cover and microwave 3 minutes or until soft.
- In a seperate medium size bowl, add cream cheese, milk and onion/butter mixture.
- Stir well (I used a whisk) (If cream cheese is not soft, nuke it for 20-30 seconds to make it easy to spread.)
- Using a 9×13-inch baking dish, assemble in the following order: Thin layer of spaghetti sauce, cooked spaghetti, cream cheese mixture, remaining spaghetti sauce, parmesan cheese (as much or as little as you want)
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Top with french-fried onions and continue baking 5 more minutes. (neworleansathleticclub.com) (This is the secret ingredient–don’t let them burn.)
