Baked Ziti

Baked Ziti is one of my favorite comfort foods. This is one of my 5 recipes that I can cook with confidence and everything else is an experiment. This is my “go to” recipe when I know we have guests that will be staying for a few days. It refrigerates and reheats really well, so if people get hungry they can scoop some Ziti. There are only four ingredients, my kind of recipe.

1 lb box of ziti, cooked al dente (penne will work, too)
1 lb ground beef (or turkey)
2 24oz jars of tomato sauce
4 cups mozzarella cheese

1. While the Ziti noodles are boiling, brown meat in a large sauce pan until cooked thoroughly. Drain meat and stir in tomato sauce.

2. Spray bottom and sides of a baking dish (I use my Pampered Chef Stone). Layer the tomato sauce and meat mixture then noodles then cheese. Repeat the layers. Make sure your top layer of cheese completely covers the noodles or else they will dry out.

3. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until the top of the cheese starts to brown.