Julie's Noodle Casserole

I don't know who Julie is but we sure love her recipe! Perfect for Presto Pasta Nights.....Mmmmmmm......pasta...

This recipe is one I have passed over when flipping through the pages of Family Circle magazine. Passed over not once but twice….it looked a bit bland.

So, sitting and waiting for something the other day, this already read magazine my only option for entertainment (because I stupidly left my book at home) I flip to the casserole recipe again.
My son loves spinach, we all love beef and I like cottage cheese (any cheese…well, most cheeses) so I thought, why not. Its cooler temperatures and this looks like 1950’s comfort food.

Oooey, gooey with spinach and cheeses...........



NOT bland. NOT Difficult. Not expensive! What more could you ask for?



DE-lish-ous! I recommend this one. It’s fast, cheap and we all ended up going after seconds…….definitely is making the short list on meal rotations!

Ingredients……..

8 to 12 ounces wide noodles
1 pound ground beef
1 container (16 ounces) marinara sauce
1 (16 oz.) tub of cottage cheese
1 package (10 oz,) frozen chopped spinach (thawed and rained)
2 cups shredded cheddar
1 large egg
3 chopped scallions
Salt and pepper to taste

NOTE: I modified….we only had a handful of flat noodles so I also added bow tie pasta. Ground beef – yeah, I used a pound and half.
Marinara, I used my emergency jar of pasta sauce.


Directions:

Step 1. Heat oven to 350 F (175 C) and prepare a casserole dish.

The recipe states to use a 2 quart deep casserole. I used extra meat but I can tell you now, even if I used the quantity stated NO WAY was this fitting into a 2 quart dish. I used a cast iron Lodge 5 quart. Doug’s idea. He’s brilliant – you should taste one of his Bloody Marys...Mmmmmm


Step 2 Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook your noodles for 5 minutes. Drain. No matter what the cooking time is on your box of noodles, just boil them for 5 minutes!

Step 3 Cook your beef and drain off fat. Remove from heat and add marinara sauce.


Step 4 In large bowl combine cooked noodles, spinach, cottage cheese, 1 cup cheddar cheese, egg scallion, salt and pepper.



Last Step! Transfer noodle mixture to prepared cooking dish (in my case, the Lodge cast iron). Top with beef and sprinkle on remaining cheese. Bake at 350 F (175 C) for 30 minutes uncovered.

Here it is in the Before photo.....notice my little cream shiba looking up, hoping I will drop some cheese!



Think of all the variations you could make here. Next time we are using a mixture of pork and hamburger. You could swap out the cheddar cheese and use mozzarella or Swiss or whatever you fancy. Want to be healthy? Use ground turkey instead of beef. Endless possibilities!

I will be sending this to the lovely Ivonne at Cream Puffs in Venice for her Magazine Monday series and I am sending this to Beth Ann at Seventh Level of Boredom who is the host of Presto Pasta Nights this week.

Try this – you won’t regret….it’s comfort food at its best.



Enjoy!