Taco Pasta Bake

By Ariel

Pinterest to the rescue again! This meal makes me a true believer that anything + carbs = amazing.

We do tacos approximately twice a month around here. It's easy and who doesn't love tacos? While on Pinterest I found this pin and knew it would be a hit. I wasn't wrong AND it makes for a great lunch for work the next day. 

I did make a few changes to the original recipe. I used ground turkey and rather than a taco seasoning packet I used Elisabeth's taco seasoning recipe from right here on Food Lush. I probably come back for that specific seasoning mix more than any other recipe out there on the internet. If you have not tried it, check it out! If you don't have all the spices, you're still going to save money (and sodium!) in the long run, I promise!

I also used reduced fat cream cheese and reduced fat mexican blend (Kraft, I believe). 

A couple things I discovered:

Drain the pasta once cooked, but don't rinse it. For the ground turkey/beef do not drain the juice. If your meat is on the dry side add a quarter to half a cup of water because the casserole is great fresh out the oven but will dry for lunch the next day.

This was a great comfort food, thanks to the pasta, and the recipe could easily feed a family of four with room to spare (so I'll be cutting it in half next time!). I'm just not sure if it can be made vegetarian-friendly, which would be nice in my quest to cut more meat from our diet.

Any suggestions from the vegitarians out there? Bonus points if I can make my husband believe it still has meat in it!

Comments

[Jme]

Sounds delicious! I'm not a vegetarian, but I think beans (black or pinto) would be a decent sub for the ground meat.

[Christy M]

I think beans or a beans/corn combo would be the obvious ways to go vegetarian. To switch over without people noticing, do it gradually, like add beans and corn in addition to the meat next time and then reduce the meat the next time and the time after that, use no meat at all, just increasing the beans and/or corn. Works with my son.

[Emily]

I think TVP (textured vegetable protein) would work well! I know it sounds disgusting, but it soaks up the flavors around it, so it works really well in Mexican-inspired dishes. I've used it to make taco filling and served it to a table full of meat eaters who didn't know the difference.