It wouldn’t be Christmas without spaghetti. Wait. What?

Let me start over.

It wouldn’t be Christmas without me trying to make some kind of crazy fun dish that the kids can remember. This one beats tuna fish sandwiches dyed red and green…

But just by a bit. ; )

I wanted to do something special with my leftover spaghetti the other night. Well, as special as leftover spaghetti can be. With Christmas here, I had a fun idea. I wanted to make individual Christmas wreath ramekins filled with…spaghetti leftovers.

Frugal and fun?!

Happy day!

Ingredients:

Leftover spaghetti (I would say this is 2 jars pasta sauce with 1/2 pound cooked ground meat, 1/2 package spaghetti noodles)
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 diced red bell pepper
1/4 cup red wine
3 Tbsp. Olive oil
1 clove of minced garlic (I use 1 tablet from frozen packet)
1/2 block (4 Tbsp.) softened cream cheese
1/2 of a real mozarella cheese ball sliced into 1/2″ slices

Topping:

5 Tbsp. Butter
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. Bread crumbs
1/4 tsp. italian seasoning

Optional:

Anything green to use as filler on plate around your round ramekin. I used broccoli. It makes another pretty wreath.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix up your melted butter, bread crumbs and italian seasoning.

I sautéed my bell pepper in the olive oil for approximately seven minutes. Then I added the garlic and cooked the mixture for another minute. I added the wine and let that simmer for a minute.

I mixed the cream cheese, leftover spaghetti sauce and noodles, and bell pepper mixture together. I plated the ingredients into individual round ramekins.

I placed a slice of mozzarella cheese on top. Then I placed the bread crumbs into a circle around the cheese.

Place the ramekins onto a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes until cheese is melted.

Turn oven to broil. Broil for approximately one minute until bread crumbs are golden brown. Be careful! You do not want your cheese to burn!

Serve up on plates.

You can also add an additional wreath of green vegetables of your choice around the ramekin for an extra wreath layer. And an extra opportunity to fill your kids tummies (or your own) with an extra vegetable.

I won’t tell if you don’t.

Enjoy!