Yep…here’s another one! Tonight I made Baked Ziti for my family. It was so good I even had some…first time to eat pasta in 4 years! Amanda and Jason were over and enjoyed it (Amanda took my recipe home with her!). Again, the best part for me was sitting around the table laughing and having fun.
So here’s the finished product…
And here’s a plateful…
Lots of asks for seconds and after his first bite, Tony said “Baby, I’m gonna have to stay married to you for another 17 years!” LOL! For those of you who are questioning the sudden posting of my culinary quest…you have to understand that I’ve been known to cook dinners that could cause a person to commit Hari Kari. I have NO cooking skills whatsoever…so this little foray into food has been really exciting (because the food doesn’t suck!)! Ha ha!
Here’s the recipe for you…with my notes about some changes I’m going to make at the bottom…
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) package ziti pasta
- 24 ounces ricotta cheese
- 1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 (32 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and rinse.
- In a medium bowl, mix ziti, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, egg and 1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking dish and spoon in ziti mixture. Top with remaining spaghetti sauce, followed by Parmesan cheese.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes; let stand for 15 minutes before serving.
Next time, I’m upping the sauce in the mix to two cups…and I’m adding more in the dish BEFORE putting the noodle mix in…and more on top. Other than that – this was STUPID easy to make and tasty!
The little boys weren’t a fan of the ricotta cheese, but everyone else was. I’ll play around with other recipes to see if I can find a replacement that they’ll like.
That’s it for tonight! Yum!