If you’re looking for something easy to make for dinner tonight that will satisfy your hunger, fill warm bellies and make you do your good food dance. This creamy herb and garlic pasta bake is exactly what you have been looking for.
“this is my kind of dinner”
-My daughter
This dish is an instant favorite way to make dinner easy. Try it tonight and have your kids throwing quotes at you like that one. yes she does sound like that even though she’s only 10 and not a cartoon character.
Ingredients you will need to make creamy herb and garlic pasts bake
- Ground beef
- Cooking onion
- Cloves garlic
- Whole tomatoes
- Fresh spinach- you could use frozen if you prefer just make sure you thaw and drain before adding it to the sauce.
- Favorite spaghetti sauce
- Cottage cheese
- Herb and garlic cream cheese – you can use any flavor you want but i like the extra flavour the herbs and garlic add.
- pasta water to thin
- Pasta – I used fusilli but use and kind you have on hand
- Shredded cheese – cheddar or mozzarella will probably be your best et for melting but if you prefer to use another kind that is your choice.
- Fresh basil – dried will work also
- Fresh thyme- dried leaves is ok also
- Oregano
- Celery salt
- salt and pepper to taste
How to make creamy herb and garlic pasta bake
1. Brown beef
in a large deep frying pan begin to brown the ground beef ground beef over medium heat.
dice one large onion, peel and coarsely chop garlic add both to the pan once the meat is almost fully cooked
add salt and pepper to your usual preference
2. add tomatoes
add 1 can of whole tomato juice and allow to simmer and cook until the tomatoes break down and create a sauce. Stirring occasionally so they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan
3. add sauce
add jar of tomato sauce, spinach and seasoning. Add a lot of spinach. It looks like a lot but once it cooks down it wont be as much. If you are choosing to use frozen make sure you thaw it out completely and remove as much of the liquid as you possibly can.
3. Add cheese to you creamy Herb and Garlic Pasta Bake
once everything has melded well together add cottage cheese and cream cheese. This may seam a bit odd at this point but trust the process. Plus with the cottage cheese you are adding more protein and we all could use a little more of that.
allow everything to simmer a while to melt the cheese then stir to combine everything together.
allow everything to simmer a bit on low heat while you boil the water and partially cook the pasta of your choice. I used fusilli
5. Season
taste the sauce and add more salt or pepper if you feel like it could use some
6. Add pasta water
once the pasta is partially cooked take about 2 ladles worth of pasta water out of the pot and add it to the sauce to thin it out a bit. You want the consistency to be enough to cover all the noodles but also be able thicken up while baking because it will.
7. add pasta
drain the remaining water from the pasta and add the pasta to the sauce directly.
fold everything together until the pasta is fully coated in the sauce.
8. Bake your creamy Herb and Garlic Pasta Bake
pre heat oven to 350℉
pour pasta into a 9×13 inch casserole dish
top with grated cheese
bake for 20-30 min or until the cheese is melted and beautifully bubbly.
9. Rest and enjoy
allow dish to rest for 5-10 min before serving
Creamy Herb and Garlic Pasta Bake
Equipment
- 1 9×13 casserole dish
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 large cooking onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 can whole tomatoes
- 3 handfuls fresh spinach
- 1 jar your favorite spaghetti sauce
- ½ tub cottage cheese
- ½ tub herb and garlic cream cheese
- pasta water to thin
- 3 cup partially cooked pasta
- 1 cup shredded cheese
- 4-5 leaves fresh basil
- 1 tsp fresh thyme
- 1 tsp oregano
- ½ tsp celery salt
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- in a large deep frying pan begin to brown the ground beef ground beef over medium heat.
- dice one large onion, peel and coarsely chop garlic add both to the pan once the meat is almost fully cooked
- add salt and pepper to your usual preference
- add 1 can of whole tomato juice and allow to simmer and cook until the tomatoes break down and create a sauce. Stirring occasionally so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan
- add a jar of tomato sauce, Spinach and seasoning
- once everything has melded well together add cottage cheese and cream cheese.
- allow everything to simmer a while to melt the cheese then stir to combine everything together.
- allow everything to simmer a bit on low heat while you boil the water and partially cook the pasta of your choice. I used fusilli
- taste the sauce and add more salt or pepper if you feel like it could use some
- once the pasta is partially cooked take about 2 ladles worth of pasta water out of the pot and add it to the sauce to thin it out a bit.
- drain the remaining water from the pasta and add the pasta to the sauce directly.
- fold everything together until the pasta is fully coated in the sauce.
- pre heat oven to 350℉
- pour pasta into a 9×13 inch casserole dish
- top with grated cheese
- bake for 20-30 min or until the cheese is melted and beautifully bubbly.
- allow dish to rest for 5-10 min before serving
