Cheesy Baked Spaghetti

This is one of my family's all-time favorite meals.  When my daughter came home for Christmas during her first year of college, she--of course--was only here for a couple of weeks--and Cheesy Baked Spaghetti was on the list of requested dinners while she was here.  We've loved this recipe for years, and it's now kind of the definition of "comfort food" around here.

Most of the time, I prefer using freeze-dried sausage to make this meal anyway because it's so much faster and easier (and less messy) than cooking up a pound of sausage.  So I really only needed one other swap to make this recipe entirely pantry-friendly.  We really couldn't even tell the difference between this swapped-out recipe and the original.  And that's perfect.

I have to say, too, that having a delicious dish like this one just "waiting" in the pantry is pretty awesome.  You're going to love this.

CHEESY BAKED SPAGHETTI 

PREP TIME:  15 minutes
COOK TIME:  30-35 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• two 14.5-oz. cans of diced tomatoes, undrained (I prefer petite diced)
• 1/4 c. dried minced onion
• one 2.25-oz. can sliced olives
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 - 1  1/2 c. freeze-dried sausage (or you could use freeze-dried beef instead)
• 12-16 oz. spaghetti, cooked and drained
• 2 c. freeze-dried shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
• 1/4 c. water
• grated parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

Rehydrate the sausage and cheese according to package directions.  (Suggested rehydration time for cheese is 2 hours.)  In a large bowl, stir together tomatoes, onion, olives, and oregano.  Place half the cooked spaghetti in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.  Spread half the meat-vegetable mixture on top.  Sprinkle half the cheddar cheese on top.  Repeat the layers.  In a bowl, mix the soup and water until smooth.  Spread on top of the last cheese layer, being careful to cover all the spaghetti pieces so they don't dry out in the oven.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until heated through.

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