My Quick and easy baked ziti (pasta)!

Happy Pasta Day! Whether you love spaghetti and meatballs, penne with vodka sauce, linguini with shrimp, lasagna or just something else today is the day to get or make your favorite pasta dish! My personal favorite is fresh baked ziti with lots of cheese and sauce!

I usually don't have the time to make everything from scratch so I make due with what I can get from the store that will be fast!

Ingredients

• 16-24oz jar of your favorite marinara sauce. Feel free to make your own if you can from your favorite recipe! I like extra sauce and extra cheese so I use 24oz of sauce!

• 1 lbs of your favorite dried pasta/ziti. I sometimes will use rigatoni and penne. I really enjoy when there is a penne noodle that gets trapped nicely inside the rigatoni!

• 1 lbs of ricotta cheese. I use whole milk but use what you like! Play around with it till you find the best brand/type!

• 1 lbs of mozzarella. Be sure to get a good tasting mozzarella. This is the stringy part of your cheese and you do not want it to be bland!

• 1/2 lbs of parmigiano reggiano freshly grated. If you must be in a rush you can try using pre-grated parmesan cheese but the cheese is really the star of this dish. I would freshly great it in!

• 1/2 cup of bread crumbs (optional). But it gives the top a nice crunchy texture you begin to fall in love with!

• 1 lbs of your favorite meat(s) or vegetables (optional). I like

Directions

1. Boil water in a pot and add a pinch of salt. While water is boiling get your frying pan hot and ready to cook your meat and/or veggies in. If you use veggies instead of meat be sure to use a little oil, preferably olive oil or grapeseed oil.

2. Add pasta to water when boiling and be sure your meat/veggies are ready or close to ready. You want to let them rest off the heat for a few minutes before adding everything together.

3. When pasta is al dente immediately dump and cool with cold water. This ensures the pasta stops cooking and will remain the right texture you want. I tend to under cook slightly my pasta since it will cook slightly more while baking.

4. Add pasta, ricotta, meat and/or veggies to a large baking pan. I like to use a pan with a lid so I do not have to worry about having tinfoil around!

5. Grate half of the parmigiano reggiano into the pan. You will want to leave some for the top as well as to serve at the table.

6. Finely chop or grate you mozzarella and combine into your pan with the rest of the ingredients. Get a large spoon and begin stirring everything together. You can leave a small bit of mozzarella for the topping which I suggest doing. Stir everything in the pan until it is completely uniform.

7. Get your oven up to 350 F. Use extra mozzarella and parmigiano reggiano to top the dish. If you want to add a little texture and extra flavor top with bread crumbs at the end. Seal up with a lid or tin foil.

8. Bake approx. 25-35 minutes or until the top layer of cheese has completely melted. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes.

9. Serve and enjoy! The entire prep time is less than 15 minutes and creates enough food to feed a whole family!

Remember you can swap in all sorts of cheeses and meats and veggies to make this your own. Just have fun with it! Fresh is best but canned or frozen are fine if that is all you have and are in a rush. The idea behind my simple recipe is to make your life easier by not taking a long time to get it finished!

If you double the recipe you can easily break it down into single servings and freeze them for a quick heat and eat meal. If you decide to freeze them I would advise not to cook them in the oven first. This will ensure you do not break down the sauce and the cheeses won't get burned. Cooking them from frozen will take about the same time if you make them single servings as cooking a whole pan freshly prepared. Remember always check because nothing is worse than burnt cheese and over cooked marinara!

Hope you all enjoy! This is my first recipe posted here so let me know any feedback both good and bad!