Baked Corkscrew Rotini and Whole Wheat Penne (Ziti)

It seems like everyone loves Italian. It's filling, it's cheap, it's relatively easy to make, and it's yummy! I got tired of making the same spaghetti all the time and so I decided to change it up and started making my house famous ziti.

Yesterday, when I went to get all the ingredients together, I realized I didn't have any ziti. What I did have was MULTIPLE boxes of pasta with only 4 ounces of pasta in them. This is because a lot of recipes I've used call for 12 ounces of pasta, and the boxes of pasta are 16 ounces. So basically you are left with 4 ounce boxes of corkscrew pasta, rotini, and whole wheat penne. So this is the (edited) version of my baked ziti that we will call Baked Corkscrew Rotini and Whole Wheat Penne. It was very good and after it was all cooked and baked together (and covered with cheeses) you couldn't really tell the pastas apart. I also added about 8-10 chopped spinach leaves to make me feel like a good Mom to make it healthier.

Baked Corkscrew Rotini and Whole Wheat Penne (Ziti)

Ingredients:


***I use fresh herbs because I have them in my garden. You can substitute dried herbs, you just might need to use a little more.***

1 Tablespoon olive oil
32 ounces spaghetti sauce (see recipe for sauce below)
12 (or 16) ounces cooked ziti rigatoni pasta (or small pasta of choice)
1 pound ground beef (or turkey or sausage) (1\2 sausage and 1\2 ground beef is VERY good)
8 ounces grated mozzerella
8 ounces ricotta cheese
1\4 cup parmesan cheese
8-10 spinach leaves (chopped)
2 Tablespoons minced onion
3 garlic cloves (chopped) or 1-2 Tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon fresh oregano (chopped)
1 Tablespoon fresh basil leaves (chopped)
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary (chopped)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Brown beef (or meat of choice) in a skillet with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil. Add the onion, garlic, oregano, basil and rosemary. Add the spinach leaves just before the meat is done.

Other recipes say to layer pasta, then cheese then sauce. This is what I do: Mix pasta, sauce (only 32 ounces of sauce), meat, ricotta cheese, 1\8 cup of parmesan cheese, and 1\2 cup mozzarella cheese together in a pot or bowl and pour into 13x9 baking dish. Top with remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 or until mozzarella is completely melted.

Sauce Recipe:

4 lbs fresh tomatoes (peeled or unpeeled, I usually don't peel)
2 Medium onions, chopped. (I use white onions because it's a milder flavor)
1\4 to 1\2 green bell pepper
4 cloves of garlic, chopped.
1\4 cup fresh basil, chopped.
1\4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 sprigs fresh parsley
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh oregano, chopped
1\2 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped. (about 2 sprigs)
1 Tablespoon sugar

Instructions:

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic, bell pepper, onion, basil, salt, and red pepper.
Sautee until onion and bell pepper are tender (5 minutes or so). Add tomatoes, parsley, sugar, oregano, rosemary, and thyme. Heat to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 2 hours. Stir often or until the sauce is as thick as you want it.


****This recipe always makes more sauce than what you need, so, as always, freeze the leftovers!****