Baked Ziti

I bet you'd never guess that I am a huge fan of Italian food, would you?!? If I could only eat Italian food for the rest of my life, I'd be quite content :) I came across this recipe on Amber's Delectable Delights and the picture itself sold me! I followed her basic recipe, but changed around a few things...just because the pork sausage I bought came in a 1 lb roll (and her recipe only calls for 1/2 lb) and we also quite enjoy cheese, so we added even more than what the original recipe called for. The pork sausage gave the dish a nice little kick--not too spicy by any means, though! This was a nice, hearty meal that I served with salad and the cheesy garlic bread that I made earlier in the week. Now I just hope I saved enough room for one of the brownies that I made this afternoon!

Baked Ziti

1 box (16 oz) Ziti pasta (I couldn't find ziti to save my soul, so I used mostaccioli)
1 1/2 jars spaghetti sauce
3/4 lb ground beef
1 lb pork sausage
Salt, black pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes (all to taste)
16 oz cottage cheese (or ricotta if you prefer)
8 oz mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
8 slices provolone cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 and grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 casserole dish.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, season water with salt, boil pasta till al dente; drain and set aside.

Meanwhile brown sausage and ground beef in skillet and season with desired amounts of salt, black pepper, garlic and red pepper flakes. Drain excess grease away from meats and return back to skillet. Add the jar of spaghetti sauce and let simmer until you are ready to assemble the dish. Place enough sauce mixture on the bottom of the pan so the noodles won't stick. Then assemble the rest of the dish- half of the cooked noodles, all of the cottage cheese, 4 slices of provolone cheese, 1/2 of the remaining sauce, remaining noodles, half of the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, remaining sauce, remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Let set 10 minutes to cool before serving.

Source: Adapted from recipe posted on Amber's Delectable Delights