3 Cheese Baked Spaghetti

John's dear, sweet grandma - my grandma at heart as well - passed away a few weeks ago.

She is reunited with grandpa, whom she has missed dearly since his passing nearly six years ago. John's parents have been her caregivers for the last few years. So after grandma's celebration of life we invited them to join us down in Rockport for a few days. They accepted and joined us for four nights at Goose Island State Park.

I knew they would be exhausted after the nearly six hour drive, so I had a meal planned for their arrival. They typically eat out but I didn't think they would want to hassle with finding a place to eat after such a long drive. It seemed the perfect opportunity for this yummy recipe I had picked for the next Crazy Cooking Challenge.
This is my third month to participate in the Crazy Cooking Challenge. It is hosted by Tina over at Mom's Crazy Cooking. The challenge is to search other blogs to find the perfect recipe for that month's challenge, credit the blog you found it at and then the recipe with the most votes (clicks) is named the ultimate recipe for the month. For more information you can check it out here:

This month's challenge is spaghetti with red sauce. I'll be featuring two different blogs this month. First I found Quick Spaghetti Sauce at Finding Joy in My Kitchen. I normally use jarred sauces but the addition of cinnamon to this sauce caught my attention and I knew I had to try it. Then I came across this wonderfully cheesy recipe for 3 Cheese Baked Spaghetti at Beyer Beware. It called for my standard jarred sauce but I thought I would mix things up a bit and make it with the quick, yummy sounding, homemade sauce. I had to pare down the sauce to make close to the 28 ozs required for the baked spaghetti but with company coming I didn't need to make any adjustments to the baked spaghetti recipe as far as quantities which was really kind of nice, I like cooking for more than two occasionally.

QUICK SPAGHETTI SAUCE
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 cup diced onion
14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
12 oz can tomato paste
1/2 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp cinnamon

Brown ground beef and onions.

 Drain off grease if necessary. Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and garlic powder; stirring well.

 Add in the sugar and simmer till warmed. Stir in the cinnamon then set aside.

3 CHEESE BAKED SPAGHETTI
Quick Spaghetti Sauce
8 oz Angel hair pasta, cooked
1/4 cup liquid eggs or 1 whole large egg
1 cup cottage cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cooked pasta in large bowl. Mix in egg, cottage cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese.

Add sauce and mix well. I used my my eight cup measurere/mixing bowl from Pampered Chef - it was not big enough, I actually finished mixing it in the casserole dish. Spray a large casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray. Pour spaghetti mixture into casserole dish.

Top with remaining 1 cup mozzarella and 1/2 cup parmesan, I ran out of shredded parmesan and substituted grated parmesan instead.

Bake until cheese is melted and sauce is nice and bubbly, about 30 minutes.

Serve and enjoy.

Make sure to check out more recipes from this month's Crazy Cooking Challenge below.