Taco Pasta Bake... A Quick and Easy Family Pleaser

So you may have noticed I have been absent for the last week or so. I've been crazy busy working on a little, well actually it's HUGE, project. My sister in law is coming up to stay with my mother in law for 3 weeks and she had asked me to help her prepare for meals while they were here. I offered to do meal plans and then make freezer meals for breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks. If you follow me on Instagram you have probably seen my prep photos. The plan was to make 60 meals in 3 days but it turned into a much bigger project. Rohrl, my two year old, decided he was done taking naps on day two and then both my boys got sick on day three. So it turned into 60 meals in 5 days and 1 really, really late night. In the midst of this craziness I still was having to, I mean getting to :) ,  cook for my boys and so anything that didn't take much time or energy to prepare I was all for. I found this recipe on Pinterest awhile back and rediscovered it on one of the nights I was in the midst of my crazy cooking/freezing frenzy. I'm so glad I tried it because my guys LOVED it. Seriously... Both my boys had two helpings and my husband had three!  I will definitely be making this one again very, very soon! Bonus... Start to table was only 45 minutes...which included 30 minutes of bake time!

Thanks to Canadian Moms Cook for the recipe!

Ingredients:

1lb. ground beef

1/2 bag of medium-large pasta (I used penne)

1 packet of taco seasoning (or approx. 1/4 cup)

1 cup water

4oz. cream cheese (1/2 box)

1 1/2-2 cup shredded cheese (Like always I used Kirkland Three Cheese Mexican Blend but you can use whatever you have in the fridge)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°

Brown ground beef and drain fat.

While ground beef is cooking, cook pasta 2 minutes short of al dente (about 4-6 minutes). You don't want to over cook pasta since you will be baking it in the oven.

After you drain the fat off the ground beef add taco seasoning and water and let simmer for 3-4 minutes.

After 3 or 4 minutes add 1/2 of cream cheese to beef mixture and stir to mix. 

**It's best if the cream cheese is room temperature because it'll be easier to mix. A quick way to soften cream cheese is place it in between two pieces of wax paper and then with a rolling pin, or your hand, smash until soft.

Drain pasta and rinse with cold water. In a seperate large bowl mix pasta with rest of cream cheese and 1 cup shredded cheese.

Add ground beef to pasta mixture and stir to combine. 

Pour into a greased casserole dish and top with remaining shredded cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes.

I served mine with black beans but I might add those into the bake next time and serve with Mexican Rice.