Cheesy Noodle Casserole

I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this dish. It had some similar ingredients, but then some odd additions.

For the noodles, I used penne. I happened to have a bag in the pantry. I don’t usually use store bought pasta. Most often I make my own pasta. So I am not really sure why I had a bag of penne, but I figured why not use it.

The strange part was the cottage cheese. I have been cooking for a long time, but until I started this recipe blog, I don’t think I ever cooked with cottage cheese before. Maybe it is a Mid Century thing.

I think ricotta would have worked just as well as the cottage cheese. Either way, the cheese mixture was actually quite tasty.

I thought I had scallions. Unfortunately I did not. I also thought I had a bell pepper. We just moved and apparently some things did not get moved to the new house that were at the old house. . .

So instead of scallions and bell pepper, I used a red onion. I know, it could be a substitution for one, but probably not both. I guess I could have used pimiento for the bell pepper. Unfortunately, I am just thinking of this now as I type this blog out.

The end result was a quite good casserole. It had a lasagna like feel to it to be honest. We really enjoyed it!

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MARTHA’S COMPANY CASSEROLE

8 Ounces Noodles

1 Tablespoon Butter

1 Pound Ground Chuck

16 Ounces Tomato Sauce

1/2 Pound Cottage Cheese

8 Ounces Cream Cheese

1/4 Cup Sour Cream

1/3 Cup Snipped Scallions

1 Tablespoon Minced Green Pepper

2 Tablespoons Melted Butter

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cook noodles al dente, drain. In 1 tablespoon butter, sauté chuck until browned. Stir in tomato sauce. Remove from heat. Combine cottage cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, scallions and green pepper. In a 2 quart casserole, spread half the noodles. Cover with cheese mixture then with remaining noodles. Pour melted butter over noodles. Spread meat mixture over top. Bake for 30 minutes.