Lighter Taco Bake

There is a recipe that is highly circulating the cooking board I frequent and has been cycling for quite some time now. It is a recipe called taco bake and involves pasta- so you know it's right up my alley! I have made this before but decided to lighten it up a bit because I remember it being VERY creamy last time (and I'm not big on overly creamy things). Even after my changes it was still nice and creamy so I don't think I would use that much cream cheese again. It was pretty tasty.

I'm going to post the original recipe with my changes in bold. I halved the recipe so if you want to use my version but make the full amounts, just double it.

Ingredients

* 1 lb ground beef (I used shredded chicken breasts since we don't eat ground meat)
* 1 packet taco seasoning (I used half since I halved the recipe)
* 15 oz. tomato sauce
* 8 oz. seashell pasta (again, half)
* 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened in microwave (I used 2.5 ounces)
* 1/2 cup sour cream (I usually a little under 1/4 cup of reduced fat)
* 8 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese (I used about 1/2 cup of 2%)

Directions

1. Brown ground beef, drain. (In my version I cooked and shredded the chicken). Add taco seasoning and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.
2. In the meantime, cook pasta according to directions. Drain.
3. Mix softened cream cheese and sour cream in separate bowl.
4. Spray bottom of pan. Put pasta in bottom of pan.
5. Spread cream cheese mixture over pasta.
6. Spoon ground meat mixture over this.
7. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top.
8. Bake @ 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes before serving.