German Noodle Bake (Oven or Crock Pot)

From the 1989 edition of our church cookbook. This is one of my favorite ground beef casseroles. I thought I had lost it forever and have been searching and racking my brain for months trying to remember all of the ingredients. I was at my mom's house the other day and was flipping through this cookbook - and look what I found! It freezes and reheats well; it's a good dish to prepare ahead of time since it can be refrigerated and then baked later. **Note** This also works great in the crock-pot. Simply layer the ingredients as you would in a casserole dish and cook on low for about 4 hours.

• Ready In: 40 mins
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 lbs ground turkey or 1 1⁄2 lbs ground beef
• 2  teaspoons salt
• 2  teaspoons sugar
• 1 (16 ounce) can tomatoes, diced
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 2  garlic cloves, pressed
• 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (8 ounce) package angel hair pasta or 1 (8 ounce) package  vermicelli
• 1  cup sour cream
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese
• 6  green onions
• 1  cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Directions

1. Brown meat and drain.
2. Combine with next 6 ingredients.
3. Cook noodles and drain.
4. Combine sour cream, cream cheese and onions. Add hot noodles to this mixture.
5. In a greased casserole dish (recipe does not specify size - I have always made it in a 2 quart oval casserole dish - I did make it one time in a 13x9 baking dish but did not think it turned out as well; the layers of noodles vs. meat sauce were too thin for my preference, arrange alternate layers of meat and noodle mixture - 1/2 of meat sauce, noodles, 1/2 of meat sauce.
6. Top with grated cheese.
7. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
8. Serves 4-6.