It’s all about Sunday dinner on a cold winter day. How about Baked Ziti, an old time favorite, a wonderful comfort food. Served with a green salad and toasted garlic bread. Today you can buy the old-fashioned white pasta or replace it with whole wheat, protein or high fiber pasta. I use jarred spaghetti sauce in this recipe, but you can use your own homemade sauce, I have been known to cook Italian sausage or meatballs (my recipe – search meat balls) and add to the mixture. Use fresh parsley, easy to cut if you bunch it and just slice it with a knife at the top of the bunch into thin ribbons.
INGREDIENTS:
- 18-ounce box of Ziti, cook and drain as directed on the box. Do not rinse
- 3-1/2 cups (32-ounce jar of sauce) spaghetti sauce
- 2 cups Ricotta cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup chopped, fresh parsley
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
DIRECTIONS
- Cook pasta according to directions, drain but do not rinse (rinsing pasta prevents sauce from sticking to it)
- In a large bowl combine all ingredients and only ½ cup spaghetti sauce
- In a 3 quart casserole pour another ½ cup of spaghetti sauce on bottom of dish and spread out
- Pour contents of ziti mixture into casserole and spread out
- Pour remaining spaghetti sauce on top of ziti mixture, sprinkle with parmesan cheese
- Bake covered with aluminum foil in a 375 F. degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until hot and bubbly
Kitchen Moxy 