by Kathy Hamman Miller

It’s the perfect dish for a weeknight dinner or to serve to a group of hungry guests. Leftovers can be frozen in small portions for lunches. Defrost overnight in the fridge and microwave until heated through.

To make one pie you’ll need:
8 ounces of regular spaghetti 
1 pound lean ground beef
1 small bell pepper diced
1 small sweet onion diced
8 ounces Bella mushrooms sliced
14 ounce jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 large eggs
1 cup small curd cottage cheese
1 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese shredded divided.
Butter or spray olive oil to grease the pie  plate

Grease a 10 x 1 1/2 inch pie plate. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook the spaghetti noodles according to directions. Mix the eggs and cottage cheese together and set aside. When the spaghetti noodles are done, run under cool water in a strainer to where you can handle to touch tossing to help shake off the extra moisture. Press into the bottom and one inch up the side of the greased pie plate.

Fry up the hamburger until it is nice and crispy browned, set aside in a bowl, leaving just a smidge of grease in the bottom of the fry pan. Add the veggies to the greased fry pan and cook down until the extra moisture is gone and the veggies are tender for eating. Place the browned hamburger back in the fry pan, stirring in the spaghetti sauce and chili pepper. Heat through until sauce has thickened. Pour the eggs and cottage cheese evenly over the noodles that are pressed in pie plate. Cover with the Pasta sauce sprinkling with 3/4 cup of the mozzarella cheese. I doubled the recipe and left out the veggies in one of them to show the difference in styles your family might be interested in that is shown below. You can try different ways making this with what ever you have on hand.

Bake at 375 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes or until the center is set. Remove from oven and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup cheese over the top. Let set for 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!