I am 100% not Italian and I don't claim to be... but my sauce and meatballs are pretty rockin' thanks to a family recipe. Tonight's dinner however had nothing to do with my sauce and meatballs (That's next Sunday's project - unfortunately I will have pics, but ya'll aren't getting the secret recipe!!!). I found a recipe on Pinterest from Paula Deen's sons for "Lightened Baked Spaghetti". I loosely followed it, so I cannot call this recipe 100% mine. You can find the original recipe here, but my version of it will be at the bottom of this post.
I first started out by boiling some water because you'll need it to cook the angel hair pasta. As that was boiling, I chopped up half of a white onion and half of a green pepper. I desperately need the chopper thingy from Pampered Chef because chopping by hand it an accident waiting to happen. Luckily all of my fingers are still in tact! :) I multi-tasked by getting the pasta ready (I used 1/4 of a box of angel hair spaghetti, whole wheat of course!) and then threw it in the pot of boiling water.
I always break the noodles in half... I hate twirling!
After I drained the pasta, I drizzled a little
olive oil over it so the noodles wouldn't stick as
I was making the rest of the meal! :)
After everything was chopped, I threw olive oil into a pan and let it heat up before I added the chopped onion and green pepper. I let them saute for about 3 minutes and then I added a little less than 1/4 cup of water and I stirred occasionally for about 7 minutes, until they were nice and soft!
I love the smell of sauteing peppers & onions!
I then put 1/2 pound of lean ground beef into the pan and browned it. I then drained it (there was hardly anything to drain, but I can't have juices in the bottom of the pan, ew!!!).
Lookin' good! :)
After I drained it, I threw in 1/2 of a 29-oz can of crushed tomatoes and a whole bunch of spices and stirred it all up!
I did NOT end up using the tomato paste -
it wasn't necessary!
Yummy!!!!!!
After it was all stirred up, I let it come to a boil and then covered it! It simmered for about 15 minutes! When the 15 minutes was up, I threw in the pasta and tossed it so that the noodles and the sauce became a happy family! :)
Oh yes, at this point I wanted to take my fork
and just dig in! Patience my friend, patience! :)
I then sprayed a casserole dish with olive oil cooking spray and poured in 1/2 of the pasta. I then covered it with 1/4 cup of reduced-fat mozzarella cheese. Then I poured the rest of the pasta and topped it with the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese! I covered it with aluminum foil and stuck it in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes was up, I took the foil off and put it back inside so the cheese would get even more melty! :)
Before it went into the oven...
And after!!!
After it's done baking, let it sit for about 5 minutes. It'll be hard not to dig in, but it's worth the wait because the finished product looks like this...
I had already started to stir it up BEFORE I took
this picture... oops! haha!
The baked spaghetti was paired with a salad full of veggies! Yummy! Check it out!
So yummy! And don't you love my
St. Patrick's Day table!?!? :)
Dinner got two thumbs up from Shaun, with the only recommendation of nixing the crushed red pepper flakes. I agree with him on that.... too much spice! LOL! Enjoy this recipe!
Baked Spaghetti - Lightened Up! (adapted from this recipe)
*This recipe makes 3 servings!*
3 oz whole wheat angel hair pasta (1/4 of a box)
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/8 cup of water
1/2 pound lean ground beef (or ground turkey, ground sausage, etc...)
1/2 28oz. can of crushed tomatoes (I used the no-salt added one)
1/2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
fresh ground black pepper (I always use a lot)
1/2 cup reduced-fat mozzarella cheese
1. Cook pasta according to directions on box. Toss with olive oil after you drain it to prevent the noodles from sticking.
2. Heat oil in pan. Add onion and green peppers, sauteing for about 2-3 minutes. Add the water, stirring until the veggies are nice and soft (about 7 minutes).
3. Add ground beef, brown, and then drain.
4. Add the crushed tomatoes and spices and then bring to a boil. Cover and let simmer for about 15 minutes.
5. Add the pasta to the pan, stirring to mix everything together.
6. Pour 1/2 of the pasta/sauce mixture into a greased casserole dish. Add 1/4 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Add the rest of the pasta and top with another 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese.
7. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. Remove foil and put back in oven for 5 minutes.
8. After you take the casserole out of the oven, let it sit for 5 minutes before serving.
Enjoy!!!
Now I'm off to do some relaxing! :) I hope you all had a nice weekend!
Sweet Hugs,
Lauren
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