Monday, March 26, 2012

#515: Baked Ziti


I intended to make this before Matthew was born, but he came the day before I planned to make this.  Fortunately my mom made it for us to freeze when she was staying with us for a few days.  We finally had a chance to defrost it and eat it last night (and again for leftovers tomorrow!)  2 for 1 dinners always make the best meals. 

We really enjoyed this...all of us did.  Brian thought there was a lot of meat in this, and I had to agree. Although he liked it because of the meat, I personally picked around some of it.  :)  Regardless, it was really yummy, easy to put together and a wonderful freezer meal.  One word of caution though, ours was not 100% defrosted and took 1 1/2 hours to cook/heat all the way though.  If you don't have time to defrost ahead of time, make sure you put this in your oven way in advance of dinner.  I had some very hungry little girls.

1 pound box ziti pasta, uncooked (we used Penne b/c that's what we had) 1 onion, chopped
1 pound lean ground beef
2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup Kraft Grated Three Cheese Blend (you can substitute Parmesan cheese)
1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

 
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain.


In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish.  Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, ricotta cheese, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture.  Top with grated Three Cheese Blend.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until cheeses are melted.

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