#202: Creamy Baked Ziti (or spaghetti!)

Note to self: When creating your monthly menu, check to see when Lent starts.  This makes a big difference on what you can eat and when! 

Last year, I made a fabulous chicken dinner during lent, which I could not eat.  Tonight I made a very yummy creamy pasta dish, which I also could not eat.  : )  I know it was yummy, because as I put it together last night I tried it! 

Obviously, as you can tell from the recipe title, this was supposed to be made with ziti noodles.  I didn't have any on hand and my only choices were spaghetti or elbow noodles, so I went with spaghetti!  Basically this was like a baked spaghetti, but it sure was good!!  Brian and the girls enjoyed it too!!  Yeah, another successful dinner at our house!  I had some leftover cooked ground turkey, so I added it to the sauce...had I not, I would have been able to eat this tonight!  Oh well. 

4 cups ziti pasta, uncooked (or about 3/4 lb spaghetti)
1 jar spaghetti sauce (26 oz)
14.5 oz diced tomatoes, undrained (I used about 1/4 c petite diced)
6 oz cream cheese, cubed (I used about 3 oz)
1/2 lb cooked ground turkey
3/4 c sour cream (I forgot to add!)
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese (Brian didn't like the kind I bought, so we omitted--apparently "imitation" mozzarella is not up to his standards.  In my defense, I didn't realize it wasn't "real")
1/3 c grated Parmesan (I was irritated about the mozzarella so I figured I'd omit this one too!)
Heat oven to 375.  Cook pasta in large saucepan as directed on package, omitting salt. Remove from pan; drain.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, add marinara sauce, tomatoes and cream cheese; cook on medium heat 5 min. or until cream cheese is melted and mixture is well blended, stirring frequently. Add cooked ground beef/turkey and heat through.  (I let cool, and then froze this meat/sauce mixture.  When we were ready to use it, I let it defrost in the fridge overnight.  Then I boiled the noodles we were using, mixed it all together and threw it in an 8x8 pan.)

Mix well with cooked pasta.   Layer half the pasta mixture in 13x9-inch baking dish; cover with layers of sour cream, 1 cup mozzarella and remaining pasta mixture. Top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan. (yep, totally skipped everything after "mix well with cooked pasta!")  Bake 20 min. or until heated through.