Sour Cream Noodle Casserole

I had an absolute blast yesterday in Houston. ::Bragging alert:: Just like my awesome hubby, puppy, sisters, brother, parents-- I pretty much have awesome cousins-- be jealous ;) haha..I am sure you all have awesomeness in you life, but I thought I should give a shout out to mine. Anywhoo- super duper fun times yesterday. My cousin who I went to Mardi Gras with flew in from Los Angeles to visit my cousin in Houston for her birthday and to see the Rodeo. Plus, my cousin in Houston is preggers. I cannot wait to meet this baby...I love babies :)

Before I went to my cousins I did a little shoe shopping that I can't do in College Station. ::cough::cough:: I may have bought 9 pairs of flats :) In all fairness to my excess, I have not bought shoes in FOREVER. But now I have nice shoes for my upcoming conference in Boston! Then we headed to meet my cousins. Not only do I love chatting, joking and laughing till I can't breathe with them but I also love them because they love food like me! :) We did a cupcake crawl- going to four cupcakeries and then enjoying some Cajun goodies- crawfish, gumbo, boudain, and oysters (raw and char-grilled). Mmmmm ::droooool::. Though we may have had one cupcake fail :( We were a little too rough with the box I guess :/

They know how to do real food crawls: buy a food/desserts that the restaurant/cupcakery is known for- eat it family style (so everyone gets a few bites) and move on to the next place. That way you do not get too full and can keep eating! We then did one last cupcakery stop at Sprinkles because although I visited that cupcakery in Dallas- the hubby had gotten me sick and I was to nauseous to eat it :/ and I do NOT review cupcakeries unless I know how they taste-- can't just take the hubby's word. And so the night ended- and the hubby and I headed back to College Station and picked up Ninja from Justin and Luke's (they were so sweet and watched him for me- so Ninja would not be by himself)! See...awesomeness!

I think I am on a casserole kick. This is the first of 3 so  hope you can enjoy some casserole time with me :) I saw this recipe on Pinterest. It looked delicious and who does not love sour cream- so I decided to make it! Let's just say I am glad I did and now the hubby and I also have leftovers to enjoy!

SOUR CREAM NOODLE CASSEROLE

Adapted from Pioneer Woman

INGREDIENTS

Preheat Oven to 350F Degrees

16 oz. of egg noodles
2 lbs. ground turkey
1 (15 oz.) can of tomato Sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
black pepper to taste
16 oz. sour cream
1/3 c. light ranch dressing
1 c. mayonnaise
3/4 c. green onions diced
1 c. shredded cheese

DIRECTIONS

For the Pasta:
In a large pot, over medium heat, cook pasta according to package directions- approximately 7-8 minutes until al dente. Drain excess water and run cold water through the pasta to prevent sticking. Return to large pot.

For the Meat Filling
In a large skillet, heat ground turkey over medium heat. Add tomato sauce, salt and pepper- stirring to coat turkey. Reduce to simmer.

For Sour Cream Sauce:
In a medium bowl, combine sour cream, ranch dressing and mayonnaise. Mix in green onions. Scoop sauce over the noodles in the large pot. Then toss pasta- to coat well with sour cream sauce.

To assemble casserole:
Coat a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Add half of the noodles in the baking dish. Top noodle layer with half the the tomato-meat mixture. Repeat with remaining noodles and meat. So your layers should be: noodle (bottom), meat, noodle, and meat at the top. Make sure to evenly distribute your layers in baking dish (no one likes a crooked casserole ;).

Top final layer of meat with cheese! Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Enjoy,
Chika