Five Cheese Baked Ziti

 

I made this up the other day while trying to make something new, and it came out wonderfully good.  It takes just 10-15 minutes to make, especially if you use those new quick cooking pasta, then I bake it for about 10 more minutes to melt the cheese. I like it better with ground turkey because the meat just falls apart. Also of note, we LOVE garlic in our family, so this has a lot of garlic in it -- you can decrease it if needed. 

This recipe is perfect to have leftovers for lunches.  For our family, this is enough to feed a family of 4, plus it's perfect for the baby to have finger food, and it leaves enough leftovers to have for about 2 or 3 days worth of lunches. 

Five Cheese Baked Ziti

1 box of quick cook penne or rotini

1 to 1.5 lbs of ground turkey or hamburger

1 can of crushed tomatos

1 4 oz. can of tomato sauce

1/4 cup of water

1 cup of shredded italian cheese blend - mine had 5 cheeses in it (hence the name, lol)

6 slices of provolone cheese - optional

2 tbs Parmesan cheese

1 tbs olive oil

1 tbs of minced garlic

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp Garlic powder

1 tsp Onion powder

Preheat oven to 350.  

While heating up pan for browning the meat, add the olive oil and coat bottom of pan.  Boil noodles per directions on box while browning ground turkey.  While browning meat add parmesan cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, italian seasoning, and minced garlic.  After meat has no pink, turn heat to medium-low and add crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and water.  Let the meat-tomato mixture start bubbling before adding to noodles.  Drain noodles, then mix with tomato mixture, and gradually stir in shredded cheese.  Pour into casserole dish and top off with slices of provolone.  Bake for 10 minutes or until top cheese is melted.  Serves 6-7 people.

Next recipe will be meat loaf....my kids love meatballs, so my meatloaf is essentially a loaf-sized meatball.