Pinterest Recipes--Taco Pasta Bake

If you'll remember this post a couple of weeks ago, I challenged myself to try out some of those recipes whose pictures and descriptions entice me on Pinterest.  I figured that if I'm going to dream and drool over the pictures, why not try to create some of the stuff I pin?

I haven't been able to dedicate the full two weeks to Pinterest recipes as I had originally hoped--who knew that the first two weeks (actually the whole month) of February would be so busy and involved?!  Anywho, based on our schedule and the nights I'll be home to cook (and how long it took me to get to the grocery store this check...), I've decided to try the following recipes I found on Pinterest:

1. Taco Pasta Bake
2. Cube Steak/Gravy
3. Breakfast Casserole
4. Cheeseburger Soup
5. Crispy Chicken Pasta
6. Creamy Garlic Pasta

Tonight (really this afternoon since I'm cooking around Hunter's turnaround schedule), I made the Taco Pasta Bake.  

Original Source

It was a hit!  Because we're on a weird schedule, I didn't make anything to go with it, which I would change next time.  It needs some veggies and bread to compliment it.

But overall, it was a pretty simple and fairly cheap recipe to follow (especially if you buy in bulk and keep browned ground meat on hand like I do).  I might also add a little more cheese just because we are big cheese people (especially me!).

And most importantly...

it passed the test of the littlest judge :)

happy feasting,

angie

Ingredients

1/2 – 3/4 of a bag of large noodle pasta like ziti
approx. 1lb of ground beef
1 pkg/envelope of taco seasoning
1C water
1/2 pkg of cream cheese
1 1/2C shredded cheese (I used marble)

Directions

1. boil pasta until just cooked, drain, run cold water over it

2. brown ground beef

3. mix together taco season and 1C of water, pour over cooked beef and let simmer for about 5 minutes until the liquid has reduced

4. add the 1/2 pkg of cream cheese to the beef mixture, stir until melted and combined, remove from heat

5. put pasta in your casserole dish or pot, mix in 1C of the shredded cheese

6. top pasta and cheese with beef mixture, gently mix until the pasta is coated

7. top with remaining 1/2C of shredded cheese

8. bake at 350 uncovered for approx 30 minutes