Failing eyesight and memory

The good thing about a personal food challenge is getting to try a few/many new recipes and getting the reactions of those who eat them. Some are keepers and some are coasters and will never been thought of again in my kitchen. We have enjoyed trying things I might never have thought of before and it gives me something to do that I really enjoy. ( Except for that stinkin' clean up part) the down side of a food challenge is to REMEMBER what the actual challenge is. I remember that this year I would try specific types of recipes but when I am looking for something new and delicious I forget which category to try. Maybe I need to write the categories on an index card and look at it each day before I start trolling through recipes and food sites.

A couple of nights ago The Hub asked for spaghetti and normally I would accommodate him, but decided to just do something that would accommodate a food challenge category. I started looking for casseroles, and decided a main dish casseroles would be just the thing. It was also national pie day and being the good American that I am wanted to be patriotic and I found a food item that worked for both. Spaghetti Pie! It's a casserole with pie in its name. It was perfect! I got my category satisfied, The Hub got his beloved spaghetti and we got to celebrate National Pie Day. Another food trifecta!

Spaghetti Pie

6 oz. spaghetti
2 tbsp. butter
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 cups spaghetti sauce
1 lb. cooked ground beef, Italian sausage or mixture of both
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese


Preheat oven to 350
Cook spaghetti according to package directions; drain.
Dump the cooked spaghetti into a large bowl and
stir butter into hot spaghetti.
Stir in Parmesan cheese and eggs.
Spray 10-inch pie pan with cooking spray.
Put spaghetti mixture in the pan and manipulate the noodles to form a "crust" all around the edge of the pan.
Spread ricotta cheese over bottom of spaghetti crust.
Warm the spaghetti sauce with the ground meat
Top with 2 cups of spaghetti /meat mixture.
Bake, uncovered for 20 minutes.
Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese on top.
Bake 5 minutes longer.

I personally doubled the spaghetti and both of the cheeses. I added about 1/2 cup more sauce and a half a pound of Italian sausage to the pound of ground beef ( Note to self: wear glasses when shopping for sausage and you won't get stuck with a pound of Jimmy Deans Italian sausage rather than regular breakfast sausage). I also did not use a 10 inch pie pan as requested, because I had 1 aluminum pie pan and 1 oval pyrex dish. It made enough for 2 complete spaghetti pies. One for supper and one frozen in the pie pan for another day when I know I will have little time to cook.

This was pretty good. Next time I will spice it a little more. The sauce needs to be very intense, because the noodles with the parm and ricotta are fairly bland tastes and can stand the additional flavor from a heavy hand with herbs. I served it with broccoli and a tossed salad. it was flavorful and filling.

I am posting the picture here this time. I forgot to wear the glasses while I was taking the pic and it looked perfectly fine to me. When I opened the file and looked at the enlarged photo, I found what I saw and what "was" are 2 entirely different things. Sadly by the time I realized what happened the spaghetti pie was a distant memory. Will try to remember to wear glasses next time.




Unfortunately I also looked at my first post of this year AFTER I made the spaghetti pie. I was going to be smug knowing I had knocked off at least four categories of food already and would just have to do a few next week. Wrong!!!!!!!!!!! In addition to some mild eyesight issues, it seems I am as dumb as dirt. The "starts with a c" category food that I thought was a casserole was a crock pot recipe.

Hi! My name is Anne. Can anyone point me in the direction of the nearest meeting of Idiots Anonymous?