Easy Cheap Recipes- Zesty Spaghetti

Because you can never have too many ground beef recipes in a cheap and easy household. (The good kind of cheap.) This is my new favorite meat sauce. The special ingredient (cream cheese) sounds kind of odd, but adds a great creaminess/smoothness to what can otherwise be an acidic tasting dish. It calls for two different kinds of processed tomatoes, which is kind of important for texture. The diced means you get nice little chunks of goodness, and the sauce, well, makes the sauce. Makes great leftovers.

1 lb. of ground beef

1 onion diced

2 garlic cloves minced

1 can tomato sauce (15 oz.)

1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz.)

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon oregano (less or more to taste)

1/2 tsp dried basil (less or more to taste)

2 oz. cream cheese (1/4 of an 8 oz. block)

3 Tbsp. parmesan (go ahead, use the canned stuff)

12 oz. spaghetti

In a large skillet, fry the beef and onions. Salt the meat a little. It’s easier to season now rather than later, but don’t over do it. Add the garlic for the last 2 minutes. After the meat is no longer pink, add both cans of tomatoes, the water (get this by rinsing out the cans of tomatoes), oregano, and basil.

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Add salt and spaghetti. Let the sauce simmer, on low, while the water comes to a boil and the pasta cooks. Cook spaghetti until al dente. I’m not going to give a time limit here, because it may be different for you.

Drain the pasta and return to pot. Taste the sauce and adjust seasonings. Take the sauce off the heat and add the cream cheese. Stir until it is blended in nicely. Add parmesan.

Now you can either just serve the sauce over pasta or do it like the pros. I add sauce to the pasta until I think there’s enough sauce and mix (without squishing the pasta; tongs are great for this). The reason I do it this way is to avoid adding too much sauce. If you just dump it in you can’t manage the ratio of sauce to pasta, however; this recipe should be the right amount for the spaghetti. But just in case, so you can save the extra sauce. It freezes well.