Baked Spaghetti

Baked spaghetti is one of our favorite dishes.
In fact, it replaced our traditional lasagna at Christmas.
For one thing, it's just as scrumptious,
but requires a lot less work.
Here, we have two versions,
one allergy-friendly,
and the other Big K's chosen concoction.

It starts with noodles.
Pretty much any pasta will do,
but in this case,
we used brown rice noodles.
C has multiple sensitivities,
so we substitute where needed.
His pasta was cooked and then slathered in tomato sauce.

We also add a bit of gravy (tomato sauce)
to the bottom of the baking dish,
to keep things from sticking.

We layered pasta, sauce, and browned ground chicken
and topped it with his shredded rice cheese.
(He must avoid wheat, gluten, dairy, corn and a few other things.)
It gets baked at 350 degrees (covered), for about 20 minutes.

For someone who doesn't care for his plate components touching,
he gobbles this stuff up.
This will be one of the meals I hope to teach him,
so that he can have a hot meal during these cold, winter months.

Big K's version is similar,
with gravy on the bottom, noodles and loose meat
(what we call browned ground chicken or turkey)
alternated.

For this standard recipe,
we used angel hair pasta and a cheese mixture.

The cooking time is the same as C's version,
350 degrees (covered) for 20 minutes.
Basically, everything is already cooked, 
it's just to melt the cheese.

I usually make a big batch of this for Big K,
as he doesn't mind eating it for a few days.
My version is a combination of the two,
with traditional pasta, non-dairy cheese and no meat,
but a few veggies thrown in the mix.

Three different renditions of one mighty tasty dish.
This simple recipe may just become a family favorite 
at your house!

Baked Spaghetti 
(Traditional)

1/2 box angel hair pasta
1/2 C tomato sauce
1/2 lb. ground chicken
1/2 C shredded cheese
1/2 t salt
1 clove garlic, minced
2 t Italian herbs

1.  Cook pasta according to package directions, 
drain, then set aside.
2.  Brown ground chicken, seasoning with salt, 
garlic and herbs, then set aside.
3.  Add some sauce to bottom of casserole dish.
4.  Layer noodles, meat and sauce, repeat.
5.  Top with shredded cheese. 
6.  Bake at 350 degrees, covered for 20 minutes.
Enjoy!

(The noodles, cheese and meat can all be altered,
to accommodate dietary preferences.)