Dinner

THIS is what we had for dinner last night.  It looked so pretty coming out of the oven I took a picture.

And then I opened the oven and took a picture of the bread.  Because I'm cool, that's why.

And then I took a picture of my half-iced cake.  Sorry you don't get to see the final product.  We started eating it pretty much right away.

Since I'm sure you're dying to know it, here's the recipe for the Ziti Pasta:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound dry ziti pasta
• 1 onion, chopped (I usually leave this off because we don’t like onions)
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce (something seasoned with lots of flavor—I like garlic & mushroom best)
• 6 ounces provolone cheese, sliced
• 1 ½ cups sour cream (I tried ricotta and cottage cheese, too but we liked the sour cream in it the best)
• 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded (I use more, to cover the whole top--like, 2 cups)
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (I usually leave this off, it doesn’t really add anything in my opinion)
• Breadsticks!

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, 7 minutes; drain (don’t worry if it’s not cooked completely, it will finish cooking in the oven).
2. In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes (I usually am too impatient to wait that long and it turns out fine).
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter/spray a 9x13 inch baking dish.
4. Mix ziti pasta with spaghetti and ground been to let sauce get into the noodles.  Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti and sauce mixture, Provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 of the ziti and sauce mixture, mozzarella cheese.  Top with grated Parmesan cheese.
5. Cover and bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted. (I like to uncover it about 28 minutes in and put on high broil so the cheese on top will melt and turn a little brown).
6. Don't forget the breadsticks!

The bread I used last night was the Great Value cheese and garlic Texas Toast.  I should have just made my own garlic bread.  Oh well.  The cake is Duncan Hines extra moist yellow and their whipped chocolate frosting.