Friday, August 7, 2015

Frugal Friday: Baked Ziti

Are you like the Arkansas Test Kitchen, money going out for bills with little left over for groceries? After the Arkansas Test kitchen moved into a new apartment, money was gone in a hurry, so we focused on some delicious budget friendly recipes- like this Baked Ziti!  


The yield on this recipe is insane- we gave a third of it away to friends for their dinner, and were still able to eat it for three days after. It also freezes really well if you'd want to make half a batch now- and freeze the other half for dinner later in the month. And bonus? The most expensive ingredient in the entire meal is the two pounds of meat! Talk about budget friendly. 

And what good is pasta without some bread to go along with it?  Check out http://cooldadscook.blogspot.com/2014/03/friday-fundamentals-bread.html for an easy, delicious bread recipe.


Baked Ziti



9 cups penne (tube shaped) pasta
1 cup chopped onion (approximately 1 medium large onion)
2 lbs ground meat (we used sweet Italian sausage and ground turkey)
7 1/2 cups pasta sauce (we used 2 cans of roasted garlic and 1 can of traditional)
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Cook pasta to al dente (the pasta is going to cook longer in the oven so you do not want to over-cook it)*.
*Remember to salt the water while cooking pasta, it will help it boil faster and it will also season the pasta as it cooks
2. In a 6 qt stockpot, sauté the chopped onion in a small amount of olive oil.
3. Once the onion is sautéed, brown the meat.
4. Once the meat is browned, add the pasta sauce, cooked ziti, and 2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese


5. Stir to combine
6. Spoon the mixture into 2 large 9"x13" greased casserole pans.


7. Evenly sprinkle the remaining cheese on top,cover pans with aluminum foil.
8. Cook for approximately 30 minutes at 350 degrees,or until the cheese is melted, and the pasta is warm throughout.



The Arkansas Test Kitchen can't wait to share more of our budget friendly kitchen adventures with you! 

Stay Cool,
The Cool Dads Crew

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