Pizza Baked Spaghetti

My Pizza Baked Spaghetti starts with Jamie's sauce:

In a crockpot, add 1.5 lbs. of extra lean ground beef (raw)
a large can of Hunt's tomato puree
a large can of Hunt's tomato sauce
2 packets of spagetti seasoning
1 small can of mushrooms

Cook on low all day. The ground beef will cook on its own - get extra lean if you are worried about it being too greasy.

Make the spaghetti and add sauce, it's wonderful. With the left over sauce, I put it in a plastic container and freeze it. That's where the baked spaghetti comes in. Of course you can use jar sauce but it is not as near as good as homemade.

So here's the recipe for the casserole:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Defrost spaghetti sauce - enough to break up the frozen chunks but it should still be cool. Meanwhile, cook about a half a box of spaghetti for 7 minutes. Do not overcook because it is going to get gooshy after it goes to the oven. Drain spaghetti.

With cooking spray, lightly spray casserole dish. Add a very thin layer of sauce. Layer half of the spaghetti on top and use half of the sauce you thawed. make sure you cover the past completely. Add the rest of the pasta and the rest of the sauce and cover pasta completely. Use finely shredded mozzarella cheese and make a think layer. Sprinkle a thin layer of grated Parmesan cheese. Add deli pepperoni (it's cheaper and really big!) and then cut 2 slices of sliced mozzarella cheese in triangles and spread over the top. It should look like this:

Cook uncovered for about 45 mins. in a 350 oven or 30 mins. in a 400 degree oven. If the cheese starts getting too brown cover with a glass lid or foil.


My thoughts on my devotions today:   This morning in Isaiah 64:8 (AMP) it said: "Yet, oh Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our Potter, and we all are the work of Your hand." How encouraging to know that God is my Potter. He is making pieces of pottery out of every one. I am pottery. You are pottery. God is our Potter. How awesome to know that my imperfections will become perfection in His time. Today He molds me little by little. Sits me on the Potter's wheel and smooths out all the bumps in me. The round and round makes me dizzy and sometimes it's hard to see the purpose in it all, but the Potter is at work on the pottery.

As I read Isaiah's words, I felt his pain. He was a prophet - God spoke directly to him and told him to warn the others of what was to come. How often do we hear God's word and think, "Well, it could happen... I guess...but I'm going to go on about my way because I'm too busy to do what I know I should do. Tell me again later, Lord, and hopefully I will have the house clean, toilet scrubbed, laundry done and dinner cooked and then I'll do what you say."

Isaiah reminded Jerusalem of the relationship they USED to have with God: "Our holy and our beautiful house, [the temple] where our father's praised You, is burned with fire, and all our pleasant and desirable places are in ruins." The chosen people had a sanctuary with their God, a place of worship and fellowship with Him. And because they drifted away from God, they lost it all. When we drift, we lose that close intimate fellowship with God.

Isaiah 53:4 speaks of Jesus: "Surely He has borne our griefs (sickness, weakness and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains of punishment, yet we ignorantly considered Him stricken, smitten and afflicted by God [as with leprosy]". Isn't it sad to think that we take Jesus for granted - what He suffered for us we continue to treat Him like He has some kind of disease?

Isaiah died by being sawed in half by King Manasseh. Manasseh didn't like what Isaiah had to say ~ much like there are times when I am in the middle of sin and don't want to hear God say that I am wrong ~ I sever God's Word from my heart and my mind because of my stubbornness. Lord, I pray that you soften me to Your Word and Your Presence in my life. Help me not to turn a deaf ear to You. Help me to love You more than the sin that I am participating in. Lord, make me like Isaiah, that I would not be ashamed of Your Word and that I would be willing to die for Your truth like Jesus died for me. Amen.