Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti Casserole

I made this recipe several months ago, during the off season and before beginning our dairy free season and it was delicious! I attempted it again a couple months into our dairy free season and we were all quite disappointed. But I have MISSED it, so I decided this week to try again, and to tweak the recipe a bit. The Rookie LOVES LOVES LOVES anything pasta, and especially anything with marinara sauce so I definitely wanted her to be able to enjoy it as well.

Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti Casserole
Plain Chicken

The Line Up
12 oz spaghetti
1 (28 oz) jar prepared spaghetti sauce
1 lb lean ground beef
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 clove garlic, minced
8 oz cream cheese (I used Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese)
1/2 c Parmesan cheese (omit for dairy free)

The Game Plan
Prepare oven to 350° F.
In a skillet, brown the ground beef until cooked through; drain fat and stir in spaghetti sauce. Set aside.
Cook spaghetti according to directions on packet. Drain and place cooked spaghetti in bowl. Add cream cheese, Italian seasoning and minced garlic. Stir until cream cheese is melted and the spaghetti is thorougly coated.
Lightly grease a 9x13" pan. Spread a small amount of meat sauce on the bottom of the dish. Put spaghetti on top of sauce and top with remaining meat sauce. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.
Bake for 30 minutes, until bubbly.

Coach's Post Game Conference
When I made this originally - I made it as listed above and it was delicious!!
To make this dairy free, I used Toffuti brand cream cheese substitute and omitted the Parmesan on top, until it was plated. Once plated, those that can eat dairy, had Parmesan cheese if they wanted. Part of the problem I had on my first attempt at altering this recipe to be dairy free, was that the cream cheese was not softened enough to mix into the pasta well, so there were clumps of cream cheese and areas where there was no cream cheese. Also, I realized today, that while this stuff LOOKS and (kind of) feels like real cream cheese, it doesn't taste like it. It doesn't have quite the same sweetness as what the real stuff does. SOOO... I pulled the cream cheese out of the refrigerator early this morning, and left it on the counter. When it was time to cook, I realized it still wasn't going to mix into the spaghetti well, so I threw it in the microwave for about 45 seconds. That worked WONDERS. Then... to address the taste, I stirred in 1 TBSP of sugar. (I've since been told that Daiya brand cream cheese has a much better flavor than the Tofutti brand).  Aside from these slight alterations, I followed the recipe as it is above and this was a winner yet again!!!

Final Score
Coach - Home Run
Catcher - Home Run
The All-Star - Home Run
The Rookie - ate a whole bowl full with minimal spillage, so I would say she thinks it's a Home Run also

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