Baked Ziti - Sunday Night Dinner

Well for my Sunday night dinner this week, I made baked ziti. The guys took the boys on a freezing cold campout Saturday night so I had a feeling they would like some hot, comfort food when they came home Sunday. And I was right! Mike said it "hit the spot". I served just a mixed green salad, garlic bread and baked ziti. Ana brought a DELISH appetizer and cake. Usually we don't bring anything, but she wanted to try these two recipes out and I certainly didn't argue! So here goes...

Goat Cheese Crostini

1 cup crumbled goat cheese
1 tsp. minced fresh rosemary
1 french baguette cut into ½ in slices and toasted
3 Tbsp Honey
¼ cup slivered almonds

In a small bowl, combine the goat cheese and rosemary; spoon over the toast slices. Drizzle with honey; sprinkle with almonds.

Thats it! Sooo easy and one of the best hors devours I have had in a long time. I could NOT stay away form it and probably ate half of them. No joke.

Baked Ziti

1 pound dry ziti pasta
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
A couple shakes of Italian Seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound lean ground beef (I used 93% lean and it was perfect)
2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce - (I recommend using a good Marinara Sauce...not Ragu! You can definitely make it yourself, but if you are short on time, dont be scared of jarred sauce. It tastes fab in this recipe.)
6 ounces provolone cheese, sliced
1 1/2 cups sour cream
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain. In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Drain any fat and add spaghetti sauce; simmer 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pam (or any cooking spray) a large 9x13 inch baking dish. Mix a little bit of the sauce with the noodles, just so they wont stick together.

Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, 1/2 of the sauce mixture, Provolone cheese, sour cream, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.

Cover with foil Bake for 40ish minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted. (may take longer to be hot all the way through!

*** please trust me on the sour cream. I know ricotta is the norm, but I think sour cream is a ton better!

This is comfort food at its finest; Hot, fattening and delicious! But hey, as long as you don't fill your bowl full, eating these kinds of food are OK sometimes! Just don't stuff yourself so you can save room for a yummy dessert such as this one.....


Toffee Poke Cake

1 pkg chocolate cake mix
1 jar of caramel ice cream topping
1 carton frozen whipped topping, thawed
3 heath candy bars

Prepare cake according to directions, using a 9x 13 greased baking pan. Cool on wire rack.

Poke holes in cake. Pour ¾ cup of caramel topping into holes. Spoon remaining over the cake.

Top with whipped topping and sprinkle with candy. Refrigerate before serving.

*** Ana made the following adjustments to this recipe:
Baked in a Bundt pan to make it prettier. I used ¾ of a container of vanilla frosting instead of the whipped topping. Used heath candy topping from the baking isle instead of the candy bars. Did not refrigerate in order to keep the cake moist.

I would highly recommend doing it the way she did it because it was FABULOUS! And unforch for my waistline...she left us with the cake leftovers! I better eat it fast to get it out of here! ;)