Baked Ziti

Beef, onions, zucchini, and spices

16 oz. ziti noodles
1 lb. ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 zucchini, sliced (optional)
black pepper, garlic powder, thyme, oregano, basil to taste
16 oz. tomato sauce
15 oz. ricotta cheese
1 c. Parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg
salt and pepper
8 oz. mozzarella, shredded
mushrooms (optional)

Ready to eat!

Cook beef and onions (and zucchini if you want it) with the spices, then add spaghetti sauce (I'll often add the same spices I used when cooking the beef and onion if I'm just using cans of plain tomato sauce). Cook ziti separately. When ziti is cooked, drain, then return to pot and stir in ricotta, 1/2 of the sauce, ricotta, Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper. Make sure ziti is coated well. Layer into a baking dish, then spoon the rest of the sauce on top. Sprinkle with mozzarella. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Adapted from the recipe courtesy of Angel Lee