I love spaghetti casserole but spaghetti? Not so much. It's OK. MY spaghetti is better than most, IMHO. I tend to go overboard with herbs and spaces and such because.... why not?
Below, a staged photo of my casserole so you can see what I use. Click on the photo to see it bigger.
Spaghetti Casserole
6-8 oz. of noodles [any kind]
1 jar Classico sauce [I like Fire Roasted Tomato and garlic]
1 small onion, chopped
1-2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 lb. ground beef
2 cups shredded Italian cheeses
Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup red wine
This is an easy casserole to make and it makes a great amount of food. You can feed 6-8 normal adults or 3 adults and 1-2 teenaged boys. Or 10 women who are on diets. LOL
Get your pasta ready. I hate "al dente" pasta and I don't care if all the TV cooks say it should be that way. We like pasta that's SOFT. So cook it twice as long as the directions say. Put some salt and olive oil in the water and stir it frequently. Also, you don't have to use 10 gallons of water to cook pasta. Used about 4 cups of water for 6 oz. of dry pasta. I always heat the water in my electric teakettle and pour it over the pasta, and add some more water.That brings it to boiling much faster.
OK, once your pasta is cooking, chop your onion and saute it in about 2 tablespoons olive oil or canola oil, until soft, about 10 minutes. Add in your ground beef and minced garlic and Italian seasoning. Cook it until browned, stirring well. Add your Classico sauce. Take the jar, when it's empty, and put in your wine. Put the cap back on the jar and shake it, to dislodge all the tomato sauce left in the jar. Empty it into the meat mixture and stir it around.
Drain your noodles once they are done.
I like to use the big Pyrex dish pictured above. Any sort of large casserole dish will do. Mix the noodles, meat, and about half the cheese. Spread it out smoothly and spread the remaining cheese on top.
OK, so everything is ready, and you can just run it in the oven at 350 for maybe 20 minutes. Or, you can refrigerate the casserole and serve it the next day. It gives the flavors time to meld altogether and get even more tasty. Then you'll want to heat it, uncovered, for about 30-40 minutes, or until the cheese on top is melted and bubbly.
Below is my casserole, ready to go into the oven, but guarded from Lola by the foil covering and the bottle of Woop Woop wine. (I buy wines with funny names. Have no idea if it's drinkable. Don't care.)
BTW, you can see the corner of the electric tea kettle in the photo. We bought that one in 2005 and it's still working beautifully. I make mother's coffee one cup at a time, with a Melitta one cup filter, plus I make my tea every morning. Takes less than 5 minutes to boil a big kettle. Awesome appliance.
If you have all the ingredients this is a super easy meal to make.Add in some fresh spinach for a one dish meal, or add a salad.