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Don't you just love coming home again after a vacation? It is so fun to go, but even more fun for us to come home. Every thing always looks new again to me for some reason, that is after all the bags, boxes and bins are unloaded.

The food that we took worked out well. It is so much easier with little ones to have meals in instead of making them sit through long dinners out. The preshopping and cooking really helped all of us to be able to make the most of our time with minimal effort expended to feed everyone.

Baked Spaghetti from the recipe that Phyllis Hoffman has in her book Gracious Tables was the favorite so I thought I would share it here for you.

Baked Spaghetti
Yield: 8 servings

1 pound ground chuck
1 pound ground Italian sausage
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1 teaspoon sugar
8 ounces uncooked linguine pasta
1 (16-ounce) container sour cream
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup chopped green onion
2 cups shredded Colby-Jack cheese blend

1. In a Dutch oven, brown ground chuck, sausage, garlic, bell pepper, and onion over medium-high heat, until meat crumbles and vegetables are tender; drain.
2. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, oregano, basil and sugar. Reduce heat and simmer, 30 minutes.
3. Cook pasta according to package directions, draining well.
4. Preheat oven to 350.
5. Place pasta in individual baking dishes or a 13X9X2-inch baking dish.
6. In a small bowl, combine sour cream, cream cheese, and green onion. Spread evenly over hot pasta. Top with meat sauce.
7. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until heated. Sprinkle with cheese, and bake an additional 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

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Baked spaghetti is a meal in itself, needing little in the way of sides. Garlic or cheese bread sticks plus an easy-does-it tossed green salad are plenty.

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To feed our group of 13 I doubled the recipe and we had some left over for lunch the next day. The boys really enjoyed this hearty dish. Sorry I don't have a picture to show you ;(

The picture above is a kind of weird colored picture take in our dining room looking through to the living room. It is really much lighter and brighter in real life.

Hugs,
Sue