Baked Spaghetti Casserole

This is one of our favorite meals. It's an easy twist on spaghetti with just an extra ingredient or two. It's quick, easy, inexpensive, and delicious! And most likely, you have all the necessary ingredients right in your kitchen.

You need about 3/4 lb. spaghetti, 1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce, 1 lb. sage sausage, 1/4 C chopped green pepper, 1/4 C chopped onion, 8 oz. block cream cheese, 1/4 C milk, 2 C shredded mozzarella cheese, and Italian seasoning.Boil 3/4 lb. spaghetti according to package directions.
Meanwhile, brown the sausage with the onion, green pepper, and Italian seasoning. You might wonder why I don't just use Italian sausage. And I will tell you. Italian sausage is gross. The sage sausage with some Italian seasoning is delish. Trust me.

Once the sausage is brown, drain. (This sausage was very lean so I didn't need to.) Then add the cream cheese and 1/4 C milk.

Cook over medium-low heat until combined.

I may or may not have gotten to this step only to eat all the sausage/cream cheese mixture. If that happens, just serve the spaghetti with the sauce. No one will be the wiser.

Reserve 1/3 C of spaghetti sauce. Pour the remaining sauce into an 8X8 baking dish.
Gradually add the cooked spaghetti. You don't want it soupy, but you want plenty of sauce so that it doesn't dry out when baking. It will probably take 1/2-3/4 lb. spaghetti. I inevitably make too much, so I always add it slowly until I have just the right amount.
Then spread the sausage/cream cheese mixture on top.
Pour the reserve spaghetti sauce on top of this.

Top it with the mozzarella cheese and a dash of Italian seasoning.
Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes until hot and bubbly.
Can you smell it? It's so good!

Serve with garlic bread, a side salad, and a glass of wine and you have yourself a wonderful, inexpensive Italian meal.

Interested in a printable recipe? Let me know and I can email it to you!