Son-in-Law Baked Spaghetti

When we visited our daughter and her family last October, our son-in-law, Tony, made us baked spaghetti and very successfully showed off his domestic skills. Since my daughter is in the army and they live on base, Tony has become quite the house husband (play on words. Women have been called housewives for years). He cares for the home and our daughter and their 2 sons. He was in the Army during the first Gulf War and served in Iraq during Desert Storm so he's very qualified for his current job "working at home/supporting husband" His spaghetti was as wonderful as his attitude!

I had hoped he would send a picture of him and his spaghetti because it was just beautiful to look at. Since he didn't, I must show you my own process and presentation. Here is the recipe he sent to me (titled by me, of course.)

 

SON-IN-LAW BAKED SPAGHETTI

1 lb of ground beef

2 16 oz of Ragu sauce (I like the one with sausage in it)

1 package of Angel Hair pasta

1 Pkg Pepperoni

2 pkgs of shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Parmesan cheese to taste

Italian seasoning

Add a small amount of salt to the noodles (a little goes along way)

Make your noodles al dente since they will cook when you put them in the oven. Preheat your stove to 350 while you brown the ground beef (drain grease). Take a large Casserole dish and pour a small amount of Ragu sauce on the bottom. This prevents the food from sticking to the bottom.

Place enough noodles in the dish to cover the bottom. Pour sauce over noodles to lightly cover them, Spread ground beef generously over sauce. Add the pepperoni and you can also add whatever vegetables you like on your pizza into this spaghetti.

Repeat the above steps until it tops the pan.

Spread the Mozzarella cheese over the top and then sprinkle Parmesan cheese over that.

Sprinkle the Italian Seasoning lightly over the dish (very strong flavor.)

Bake at 350 until cheese is lightly browned.

Mom, I also brown the beef with garlic powder sometimes, if I remember, so you might want to try it to see if you like the flavor.  You most likely won't use all the sauce unless you like a lot of sauce.

My variations:

I added thin slices of yellow squash (cooked for 2 minutes in microwave to soften) and fresh spinach and mushrooms. I also added some sliced green onions and some thin tomato slices and I used a little cheddar with the mozzarella. Instead of using the parmesan in a can, I used  shredded parmesan. I did use the garlic powder when browning the beef as he suggested.

This is such a flexible recipe, you can do almost anything you want to! It wasn't quite as good as his but it was very good!