Baked Ziti

Credit: Allrecipes

I found the perfect recipe for baked ziti from a great little blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything. My husband does not care for ricotta cheese or cottage cheese which are common ingredients used in most lasagne and ziti recipes, this particular recipe uses sour cream instead. What I like most about this recipe is it makes a TON so you will have leftovers for a day or two guaranteed and it is super yummy as my four year old says.

                     

Baked Ziti

Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients

• 1 pound dry ziti pasta
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 pound Italian sausage ( or ground beef...I like sausage better)
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasonings
• 2 jars (26 ounces each) spaghetti sauce ( I use one Ragu Marinara and one Ragu Sweet Basil)
• 6 ounces provolone cheese, sliced ( 9 rounds)
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
• grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain.
2. In a large skillet, brown onion and sausage (or beef ) over medium heat. Add minced garlic and cook for a minute or so. Add spaghetti sauce and Italian seasonings, and simmer 15 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, 1/2 sauce mixture, Provolone cheese, sour cream, remaining ziti, remaining sauce mixture and then mozzarella cheese. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.
4. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted. You may want to cover it for the first 20 minutes with foil and then let the cheese melt and brown for the last 10 minutes.

Notes

Source: adapted from Allrecipes