Easy pasta bake with meatballs

Yay for daylight savings which means that there is still daylight at supper time so I can take photos!







250g pasta
200g soft cheese
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper
Italian herbs
¼ cup Parmesan or grated hard Italian cheese
1-2 cups grated cheese
350g jar tomato sauce
about 16 small meatballs (optional)

Cook the pasta in a pot of boiling, salted water and drain when the pasta still has some bite to it, maybe two minutes before the end of the cooking time. It is also going to cook in the oven, you do not want your pasta to be overcooked. Reserve a little cooking water.

Mix together the soft cheese, garlic, herbs, salt, pepper, Parmesan cheese and half of the jar of sauce. I used Weight Watchers roasted garlic sauce (so I left out the garlic in the recipe) but any basic tomato pasta sauce will do, or make your own.

Add the soft cheese mixture to the pot. Mix until it coats all of the pasta, adding a little of the pasta water to thin it out. Spread the pasta evenly into a 9×13 inch casserole dish.

Press meatballs into the pasta if using (I used thawed Ikea meatballs). I think it would be good with bite-sized pieces of cooked sausage.

Spread the rest of the tomato sauce on top. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Let the pan sit for about 10 minutes before you cut it.