Oven-Baked Pasta Dish

Ever have nights where you know you have to cook, but you just want to throw something in the oven and be done?  The other night was one of those for me.  Here's what I made:

Oven Baked Pasta

1 jar of spaghetti sauce (If your sauce is thick, you'll need to add water to make it runny so your noodles cook well)

about 2 cups of UNCOOKED noodles (I used radiatore, but penne, macaroni, or anything like that would be great)

1/2 to 1 pound ground beef

pepper salt

onion powder

garlic powder (I didn't put any in because of this incident)

oregano

basil

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1 cup cottage cheese

Brown your ground beef and preheat your oven to 350.  Put a small amount of sauce at the bottom of an 8 X 8 dish.  Grate some cheese on top of sauce.  Then add meat, noodles, spices as needed (my sauce is spiced well, so I didn't add much), rest of sauce, and the rest of cheese on top.  I added some italian seasoning on top for looks.  Cook for about an hour at 350.

I cooked it without the cottage cheese, and my husband added it in afterward.  Next time I'll throw it in at the beginning.  The cottage cheese helps cut down on the acid from the sauce, and makes it more creamy.  Way yummy!  Serve with toast, a vegetable, or a salad.  Enjoy!