Baked Ziti

Baked Ziti is one of my all time favorites. I think the love of this entree originated from my cousin Nicole and Aunt Jo making it for one of the family game night we always had. I also remember making this with my mom at home which will always be some of my favorite memories. I decided to make it a bit different this time and use no meat. My wife is a vegetarian when its convenient and I decided to be convenient. I though did not succumb to meatlessness, I just decided to be caring and thoughtful...OKAY! I still love the meats.

In this recipe I eyeballed it quite a bit. So, please feel free to create a new interpretation of this recipe. Evolve it to best suite you and your family, then share it with us. I have had it with Italian Sausage, ground beef, mushrooms, all amazing! In my recipe I used a medley of black and green olives.

First of all, to be totally honest.. our local grocery store did not have Ziti, so I settled for large penne. Which is no biggie.

Ingredients-

• 10 oz Box of Ziti (or alike pasta noodles)
• 8 oz fresh or packaged mozzarella
• homemade or bottled tomato sauce (we used Prego because of time management, I suggest a homemade tomato sauce.. live alittle)
• 7 oz Ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese (optional)
• 1/2 Tsbp Italian Seasoning
• pinch of Paprika

• Optional Olives, ground beef, italian sauce, chicken, etc.

Pre-heat oven to 400. Take a 9" X 13" ceramic or glass dish.  Boil pasta in salted water and olive oil.
Mix some* of the mozzarella (leaving enough to cover pasta later on), the ricotta which is about 1 3/4 cup, and the parmesan. Also, add the italian seasoning.
Coat bottom of the dish with sauce about a 1/4 cup of sauce.
Take drained pasta and add half to top the sauce.
Then take the cheeses and spread over the pasta evenly. At this point you can take the olives, sausage, or ground meat and mix it with the rest of the pasta sauce.
Distribute the rest of the pasta and then top with the rest of the tomato sauce and olives. Last of all top with the rest* of the mozzarella and a pinch of paprika.
Cook for about 24-27 mins and serve with something good.