Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Baked Ziti

Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 ¾ cups spaghetti sauce
1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes undrained
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
6 T. cup water
1 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoons dried basil
¾ teaspoons dried oregano, divided
8 oz uncooked rigatoni or uncooked medium tube pasta
1 carton (8 ounces) reduced-fat ricotta cheese (I can only find 16 oz cartons, so I freeze half for next time)
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 egg light beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
In a large saucepan, cook beef, onions and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce, tomatoes, tomato paste, water, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, basil and 1 teaspoon oregano. Cover and simmer for 3 hours ( I just let mine cook while the pasta is cooking-about 10 min.), stirring occasionally. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. In a bowl, combine ricotta, mozzarella, 2 T. Parmesan cheese, egg, salt and pepper.
In one greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dishes coated with cooking spray, spread 1 cup of meat sauce. Layer a half of the pasta, 1/3 meat sauce and a half of the cheese mixture. Repeat layers of pasta, sauce and cheese mixture. Top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese and oregano. Cover and bake at 350° for 1 hour or until heated through.
*We eat half of this so I freeze half of this (don’t bake it) and use it another night.

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