Coincidentally across the country, I had a pasta dish that I had prepared the day before that was a huge hit with my little friends. Must have been something in the water that day :) I had actually finished preparing the dish Wednesday morning, when a friend called to say that she was bringing a flank steak over for dinner. What a nice surprise, but I was not going to let my hard work (actually, it was pretty easy) from the morning go to waste! So Thursday around mid-day I pulled it out of the fridge to warm up a bit, and stuck it in the oven around 5 pm. It's actually the perfect meal to make before hand, store in the fridge, and pop in the oven when you need it.
Ingredients:
1 pound box of noodles (I usually stick to rigatoni or ziti, but any smaller noodle will do)
1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce
3 cups shredded mozzarella
1 pint ricotta cheese
Optional: chicken marinated in Italian seasoning or Italian sausage)
Directions:
1) Boil the noodles.
2) If you are going to add meat to your dish, (which dads usually appreciate) cook the chicken or brown the sausage while the noodles are boiling.
3) When the noodles and meat are done, place in a large bowl, and mix with about 3/4 jar of sauce and 2 cups of mozzarella cheese. Once this is done, fold in the ricotta. You don't have to mix this really well, it's nice to have a few little chunks of it here and there.
4) Spray a 9x13 baking dish and spoon in the mixture. Spread remaining sauce on top and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.
5) Cover with foil, and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. If you're going to prepare it beforehand and stick it in the refrigerator, you either need to pull it out a few hours before you put it in the oven, or leave it in the oven for about 1 hour.
It's a great way to hide some protein in a meal for the kids! I usually cut up the meat into fairly small pieces so half the time they don't even realize they're eating it!
Enjoy!
Tara
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