Baked Ziti (makes 6 servings)

I’ve tried a thousand variations on this recipe, and they’re all good somehow. Use mushrooms and veggies instead of meat in the sauce – delicious. Cut the amount of mozzarella way down and add a little sharp, salty cheese for flavor – yep, still good.  Eventually, I started pushing my luck... Do I have to use ziti? Nope, whatever I got. Does it matter what veggies I use? Not so much. So at this point, my baked ziti “recipe” is composed of whatever leftovers are lying around my pantry/crisper drawer, but if I throw it on a plate with a salad or a cup of soup, it almost looks like the kind of meal someone would make on purpose. 

Real food?

It can be, although today I used refined pasta instead of whole wheat. Some pasta sauces are better than others too. I like Field Day, because the ingredients (tomatoes, garlic, herbs… ) are recognizable and seem like the kind of stuff I’d cook with myself in an imaginary world where I’m ambitious enough to make my own pasta sauce.  You may also want to consider the amount of sugar. Since the food industry makes it almost impossible to figure out how much sugar has been added to food, the best way to compare brands is to see where added sugar ranks in the ingredient list and look at the overall sugar content (maybe shoot for 7-8 g per ½ cup serving).

Cook time:                      

On average, it probably takes about 30 minutes of prep time + 20 minutes to bake. It really depends how much vegetable chopping you do yourself though. If you use frozen pre-chopped veggies, you can finish a little faster.  Plus, if what you want to use is not in season, the frozen option may even be more nutritious. We’re not lazy, it’s SCIENCE.

Price:                                  

$1.75/serving

Ingredients

• 8 oz pasta (ziti or really anything you have)    
• 1 jar pasta sauce        
• 8 oz block of mozzarella cheese (shredded)      
• 2 oz Pecorino Romano cheese (shredded) (not technically vegetarian)  
• 4 oz mushrooms 
• Veggies
• Olive oil
• Minced garlic

Directions

1.  Pre-heat the oven and prepare the ingredients.

Pre-heat the oven to 400°. Cook pasta according to package directions. Shred the cheese, and chop the veggies and mushrooms. (The size of the chopped mushrooms should be inversely proportional to how much your people think they hate mushrooms. No one actually hates mushrooms – that’s insane.) Chop more than you think you need, since everything will shrink when the water cooks out. This meal is about cleaning out the fridge, so it’s no time to be shy.

2.  Make the sauce.

Heat a little olive oil and garlic in a large pan over medium-high heat. When the garlic starts to brown, add the mushrooms and vegetables. If you’re trying to sneak in leftover cooked veggies along with the fresh ones – no judgment! – just wait and throw those in at the last second. Cook (stirring often) until everything is soft enough to be cut with a fork, then stir in the jar of pasta sauce.

3.  Layer the noodles, sauce, and cheese.

Half of the noodles, then half of the sauce, then half of the mozzarella. Other half of the noodles, then other half of the sauce, then other half of the mozzarella with Pecorino Romano cheese on top. Y’all know how layering works.

4.  Bake and serve.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.

Serve and pretend that your manic farmer’s market shopping spree was for this purpose all along. 

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