what's for dinner: baked cream cheese spaghetti

Can we say lifesaver?  This baked cream cheese spaghetti was on so many levels.

1.  I panicked one night last week because when I went to throw the next day's crockpot recipe together, it required me to do a little pre-cooking.  At 10 pm, I wasn't going to thaw out chicken, cut it into pieces, roll it in flour, and cook it first.  Also, we know that we spend too much money eating out, separately and together, and we also have a full pantry, so we've been making a concerted effort to eat in whenever possible -- and I just didn't want to break down and eat out that night.

2.  I had all but one ingredient on hand and I estimate it cost me about $5.25 to make.  Lesson:  Buy stuff when it's on sale.  I purchased spaghetti in bulk a few weeks ago (a buck per box!) and cream cheese at a $1.25/package.  The french fried onions, the only thing I didn't have on hand, were on sale for $2.99 this week.  I had green peppers leftover from our garden, plenty of homemade pasta sauce from our garden, and a small bag of frozen onions in the freezer, so that all helped.  (Another lesson?  Plant a garden.  It's cheaper to buy one pepper plant at $1.99 than to buy one pepper in the middle of winter for $1.99.)

3.  CJ loved this recipe.  When we were engaged, I learned that he didn't like spaghetti.  (Imagine my horror.  What in the world would I cook?)  But throw in cream cheese, veggies, and meat, and he's a satisfied customer.

Enough storytelling already.  Here's the picture and recipe:

Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti
from Salad in a Jar

8 oz. uncooked spaghetti
1 lb. ground beef
26.5 oz. spaghetti sauce
1 Tbsp. butter
1/2 C. chopped green peppers
1/3 C. chopped onions
8 oz. cream cheese
2 Tbsp. milk
Parmesan
French fried onions

Preheat your oven to 350.

Cook your spaghetti.  Brown your meat.  Add the two together.

Meanwhile, combine onions, pepper, and butter in a bowl and microwave on high for about 4 minutes.  Add cream cheese and milk to vegetables and stir well.

I used a 10x6" dish for this, by the way.

Then layer:
Spaghetti sauce
Spaghetti & meat
Cream cheese/veggie mix
Spaghetti sauce
Parmesan cheese

Bake for 25 minutes.  Remove from oven, add a layer of french fried onions, and then bake 5 minutes longer.

Enjoy!