MILLION DOLLAR ITALIAN CASSEROLE
photo by pammyowl
- Ready In:
- 45mins
- Ingredients:
- 15
- Serves:
-
8-10
ingredients
- 16 ounces rotini pasta (elbow or spaghetti may be substituted)
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon garlic (minced from jar)
- 1 medium green bell pepper (optional)
- 1 medium onion (white or yellow) (optional)
- 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced (optional)
- 1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 -8 ounce cream cheese (room temperature)
- 1⁄4 cup sour cream
- 8 ounces cottage cheese
- 28 ounces red pasta sauce
- 2 -3 cups grated cheese (Mozzarella, Italian Blend, or Cheddar)
directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Bring water to boil, add salt and pasta and cook per directions.
- Use 2 T of butter and grease a 9 x 12 baking dish.
- Dice green pepper and onion.
- Slice mushrooms.
- Heat 2 T of garlic oil and saute on medium heat bell pepper, onion, and mushrooms 3-4 minutes.
- Drain pasta and set aside.
- Add ground sirloin, crumbling as you add. Add salt & pepper, breaking up beef into small bites. Remain cooking until beef is no longer pink, drain excess gease.
- Add jar of pasta sauce and heat through.
- While meat sauce is cooking, add softened cream cheese, sour cream, and cottage cheese to a medium size mixing bowl.
- Using a hand mixer or immersion blender, mix 3 ingredients until well blended.
- Layer 1/2 pasta into baking dish, add blended cheese mixture and smooth evenly over pasta.
- Evenly add remaining pasta followed by red meat sauce.
- Cover dish with foil and bake 20 minutes. (I spray oil my foil so it doesn't stick).
- Remove foil and add grated cheese on top.
- Return to oven for 10-15 minutes until cheese has melted well.
- Rest for 5 minutes before serving.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Southern Lady
East Texas, 0
<p>I live with my husband of 20 years and two high school teenagers in the rolling hills of East Texas. We have 22 acres outside several small farming/ranching/oil communities, with 1-1/2 acre pond, 5 big dogs that swim the waters (and 1 who's old and sleeps all day inside), and a mama doe who has a set of twins each year. I'm a movie enthusiast and my passion is writing (novels and screenplays). Over the past 2 years I've picked up painting and love it. When my kids are out of college in 6 years, my husband and I plan to travel extensively. I'd love to relocate temporarily to different ares of the USA and world, just so I can absorb the culture (and write about them). My whole life has been centered around food to show love and to socialize, so when I travel I'll search for the best foods and absorb the richness of the people. In the book Beach Music by Pat Conroy, you can taste the foods and drinks of the piazzas in Rome down to the detail of the Southern cuisine in S. Carolina. When I grow up, I want to write as beautifully as Mr. Conroy. My favorite cookbooks are those put together as church or other fundraisers. There's nothing better than a church potluck dinner, so you're almost gauranteed excellent recipes. I love cooking but hate the clean up, so my plans are when I earn the publishing $$big bucks$$, I'll hire a full-time housekeeper so I may cook to my heart's delight and not get frustrated over a messy kitchen. I love experimenting and trying new recipes, but my DH is a meat & potatoes man, thus prefers the basics. One of my children has been a self-professed vegetarian for 11 years, making dinner time a real treat to prepare. I've read somewhere that your pet peeve is usually something of which you're frequently guilty, so I'm a little hesitant to say; however, mine would be inconsiderate people. So, I try on a daily basis to put a smile on someone's face by doing the right thing and setting a good example for children.</p>