Million Dollar Casserole

Note that the below recipe makes one 9x13 pan.  I split it into two 8x8 pans and it worked well.

 

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground turkey
1 jar (26 oz) spaghetti sauce
8 oz of lower fat cream cheese (softened)
1/4 cup of fat free sour cream
8 oz. low fat cottage cheese
1/4 cup of butter (optional)
8 oz. of noodles (I used penne pasta)
1 cup of cheddar cheese

Directions:

Boil a pot full of water. Add your noodles as directed on the package. While your noodles are boiling, mix together the cream cheese, sour cream and cottage cheese. I mixed mine in my stand mixer to make sure it was well blended together.

Next place your meat in a skillet and cook until brown and cooked through. Drain it.

Pour your spaghetti sauce over the meat and mix well. Spray one 9x13 or two 8x8 pans with cooking spray.

 

Layer half of the noodles in the bottom of the dish. Pour the creamy mixture on top of the noodles and spread it all over.

 

Then add the rest of your noodles and put a few slices of butter on top of those noodles (I did put the butter on the casseroles I made for our group.  My hunch is that it is rich enough without the butter, so next time I will leave the butter out...more to enjoy on the French bread I serve on the side).

 

Then pour the red sauce and meat on top and again spread it all over.

 

Cover the casseroles with plastic wrap and then cover with aluminum foil.  Place cheese in a sandwich zip lock and place on top of covered casserole.  Put both into a gallon sized zip loc (if using 8x8 pans).  Freeze.

 

To bake: Thaw casserole.  Uncover casserole and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for 15 minutes more.  Let set up 5-10 minutes before serving. 

Recipe adapted from Six Sisters' Stuff