Baked Ziti

Total Time: 1 hr Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 lb dry ziti pasta (try something new, go whole wheat.)
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1/2 lb hot itialian sausage
• 3 (24 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce (i used a whatever i had left from a pot of homemade sauce, i think it was about 3 jars)
• 6 ounces provolone cheese, sliced
• 1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
• 1 lb mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 5 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons crushed red peppers (optional)

Recipe

• 1 in a large skillet, brown onion, ground beef, and italian sausage over medium heat. add spaghetti sauce and optional crushed red pepper, and simmer.
• 2 while the sauce simmers, start bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain. mix together the drained pasta with the ricotta cheese.
• 3 preheat the oven to 350 degrees f. lightly butter/oil or do nothing to a 9x13 inch baking dish. layer as follows:.
• 4 layer 1: 1/2 of the ziti/ricotta mixture, mixed with half of the sauce.
• 5 layer 2: lay out the slices of provolone cheese.
• 6 layer 3: combine the rest of the ziti/ricotta, sauce and grated parmesan cheese over the provolone.
• 7 layer 4: evenly sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the top.
• 8 bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted to your satisfaction.