Cheesy Ziti

I ended up with this recipe off of a cooking board I belong to, but somehow no one on there seems to know who/where the orginal source of the recipe is. This recipe is extremely simple and absolutely delishious! Warning though, it does make a very large batch. The next time I make this dish, I will be dividing it into two containers - one to eat and one to freeze for later.

Cheesy Ziti

2-1/2 jars spaghetti sauce (I used Ragu Chucky Garden)
1 lb. ziti (or any small) noodles (I used mini penne)
1 lb. ground beef
15 oz. ricotta cheese or cottage cheese (I used ricotta)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 packet Italian seasoning (This is the dry dressing packet. You can also use a lasagna seasoning packet instead, but the Italian gives it a certain zest.)
8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg

Cook noodles according to package directions; drain and set aside. In a small bowl mix ricotta, egg, Italian seasoning and parmesan; set aside. Brown ground beef and drain off fat. Add sauce and noodles to ground beef; mix well. Spoon half of noodle mixture into greased (I always forget to grease the pans and it doesn't seem to matter)13x9-inch** dish. Spread ricotta mixture over noodles. Top with remaining pasta mixture. Cover with shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until warmed throughout and cheese is melted.

*Next time I make this, I'm going to use another recipe as a guide and add in 2-1/2 cups of fresh spinach when I do the ricotta cheese layer before topping with the rest of the pasta.

**I now make this and bake it in 8x8 pans instead of the 9x13-inch pans. For our family of four, the 9x13 pan left us with way too many leftovers. So I bake one pan and freeze the second pan for a later meal. To cook from frozen, thaw in the refrigerator overnight and bake as directed above. You may have to bake for slightly longer to be sure it warmed throughout.