Baked Spaghetti

I was at my girlfriends house thee other day cutting back all her oregano to help her out. For it was taking over her garden. Again here is where bartering comes into play. She is without a car three days a week, for her daughter takes it to college. And guess who is off those three days? ME!

Now, we got to talking and I was completely out of oregano and she was up to her neck in it, soooo, in walks the lady who needs oregano to a lady who needs a ride to get her glasses. So you see where I am going with this? That was Tuesday, and I am still dehydrating oregano as I type this new recipe.

When I was at said friends house, I went into her frig for some tea, it is still a scorcher here in Florida. I happened upon a plate of something...took it out and showed it to my friend. She then told me it was baked spaghetti and didn't I remember her telling me about it? No. She went straight away and got the book it came from and made me a copy right then and there. Wam bam thank you ma'am.

Needless to say that recipe was made the next night. Her sauce had meat in it, but we left out the dead cow and it was still delicious. So here it is. And this may be a new way for us to have spaghetti.

2 cups canned diced tomatoes
2 cups tomato sauce
1 cup water
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 chopped fresh parsley
1&1/2 t Italian seasoning
1&1/2 t The Lady's House Seasoning
1&1/2 The Lady's Seasoned Salt
1&1/2 t sugar
2 small bay leaves
1&1/2 lbs. ground beef
8 ounces uncooked angel hair pasta (we used 16 ounces and fettuccine, use the angel hair)
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
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Anything pertaining to the sauce we kind of winged it and did with what we had in the house, and the same goes for the cheese. What we had in the house went into the dish and there were no left overs.

Cover the bottom of a 13x9x2 inch pan with your sauce. Add a layer of pasta, then half of the cheese; repeat the layers, ending with the sauce. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Top with remaining cheese, return to the oven and continue to cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly (just a few minutes). Cut into squares before serving.

Thee only thing I would change is that I would cover the dish with foil for half the baking time, and for one reason only. The pasta that sticks out of the sauce will get super crunchy, so not fun to bite into when you are expecting a soft dish. But other than that, this dish is a Super-Keeper!

And this is a Paula Deen dish if you did not figure it out already!!