Cowboy Spaghetti

Whew, what an undertaking.  I sat down to try and catch up on a few recipes last night and saw how grossly behind I was in actually adding pictures.  2 months.  August 28 contained my last picture.  Needless to say I spent the evening posting pictures.  Now to try and catch up on the posting of recipes for the week.

And again, could I get any more side tracked?  Now I just posted a bunch of failed recipes -  I figure I better know not to try those again.  :)  So I'm finally up to a picture of a meal that I made that wasn't a fail, and that I still have the recipe to so I can post it.  Yea!  It's only taken me what?  18 hours?

This is just a variation on spaghetti.  Most variations on spaghetti seem to go over well at my house.  I guess because they look like something familiar that they like.  My picture doesn't even look half as good as the one over on Taste and tell - certainly you should go look at it if trying to decide to make this recipe. She did not mix the sauce with the noodles, and her presentation is just pretty.   But then again, she does a professional blog and mine is a hobby to help myself organize.  :)
Somehow I didn't have any bacon to go on top.  I buy a huge costco sized bag but I have 4 boys and 1 husband all of whom LOVE bacon and someone used it up and didn't let me know I needed more.  I'm sure that would have made this.  Here is how I made it - using pre-cooked beef to make it even quicker.  I can't remember exactly how much everyone liked this dish, but I'm sure it was pretty well received.  I did wish I would have kept the other teaspoon of hot sauce, but I'm afraid it would have been a bit spicy for some of my anti-spicy kiddos.)

Ingredients

• 1 pound spaghetti
• 1 medium onion, diced 
• 1 pound lean ground beef or ground sirloin (I used pre-cooked)
• 3-4 garlic cloves, chopped (I may have used garlic minces)
• pepper
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce (Original called for 2 and I would have liked 2, but I'm not sure my littlest would have.)
• 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup beef stock
• 1 can (14 oz) crushed tomatoes
• 1 (16 oz) can tomato sauce
• 3 slices bacon, chopped (I didn't use this, but would definitely consider it next time.)
• cheddar cheese
• chopped green onions

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, defrost pre-cooked beef (or cook ground beef)  Add to a large skillet along with onions and garlic (salt and pepper if your using not cooked ground beef - my pre-cooked has it.)  Saute until onions begin to soften.   Add hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce and beef stock and heat through.  Add the tomatoes and tomato sauce.  Let simmer while noodles finish cooking.
3. Serve over noodles or add them to the sauce and mix to combine.  Top with grated cheddar cheese, sliced green onions, and crisp, crumbled bacon.  (I'd probably make this by taking pre-cooked, chopping it, and tossing it in the microwave for a few seconds to get it to crisp back up.)