Taco Pasta

I hope you had a Happy 4th of July weekend!  We had a great one - stay tuned for a recap later this week.

I found a new recipe that I couldn't wait to share with you!

It's called Taco Pasta.  And it was so good!  We had it for our Taco Tuesday dinner last week.

The original recipe came from Momfessionals: Super Easy Taco Pasta

I started with her recipe and made some changes to work for me.

Taco Pasta

3/4 box Penne Pasta

1/2lb cooked ground beef

taco seasoning

water

1 block Philadelphia Cream Cheese

1 cup shredded taco cheese

2-3 T milk

Toppings: Salsa, guac, sour cream, lettuce, green onions, jalapenos and tortilla chips.

Directions:

Cook and drain your pasta.

Cook and drain your meat.  Add taco seasoning and water.

Melt in the block of cream cheese.  Add in the milk to thin out the cheese sauce.

Add 3/4 cup of taco cheese.  Melt.

Combine pasta and cheesey meat mixture.

Put in a greased 9x9 pan.  Top with remaining 1/4 c shredded cheddar.

Bake just long enough to melt the cheese and serve with toppings.

 

My kids liked it totally plain and I liked it with all the taco toppings.  It was so good!  Kind of like a Mexican Gourmet Hamburger Helper.  I will definitely be making this again.

Tips:
I doubled the recipe and made enough for two 9x9 pans.  One to keep and one to deliver to a friend with a new baby.  

I'd recommend making more cheese sauce if you aren't going to eat the pasta right away.  Maybe 1 1/2 blocks of cream cheese??  The noodles soak up the sauce pretty quickly.  

This is delicious right away and it does reheat well.  I just added some more shredded cheddar when I was reheating it to make it feel freshly topped with cheese.

Would your family enjoy this?