This weekend we did a whole lot of relaxing!  A fun dinner at our friend’s apartment Friday, movies and fun night in Saturday, and laundry/de-christmasing the apartment Sunday.  I think we both needed that kind of weekend.

On Friday I made ziti for dinner with friends and I wanted to share the recipe with you.  It is a family favorite and one that I love to make!

ZITI RECIPE

What You Need:

1 – 16 oz box ziti
1 large onion (or two small)
2 tbs olive oil
8 cups sauce (I use original Francesco Rinaldi…any will work)
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp garlic (I use a little close to 1 tsp though)
2 tbs sugar
1/2 cup ricotta
2 tbs Parmesan
1 cup shredded mozzarella (I use more like 2 cups)
Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Finely chop up the onion…

Then cook the onion on medium heat with the oil until soft…stir constantly!

2. In a pot boil water and cook ziti for 10 minutes.

3.  Once the onion is soft, add the sauce and seasonings to the onion (basil, sugar, garlic, I also add a bit of oregano, pepper, and parsley)

4. Cover and simmer the sauce mixture for 15 minutes.

yummy yummy sauce

5. Once the pasta is done and drained, and the sauce has cooked, mix the pasta and sauce in a pot.  Add the ricotta and parm and mix.

6. In a glass pan, pour the pasta mixture.  I do layers…put 1/2 the pasta mixture in the pan then a bit of the mozz cheese, then the rest of the pasta on top and lots of cheese….

7. Bake the ziti for 30 minutes at 375*.

Here it is…beautiful, delicious ziti!

8. Enjoy with friends…

(rondo and albus loving each other at em & reg’s while we ate)

I actually added chicken sausage for the first time on Friday and it came out amazing!  To do this slice sausage into tiny bites (crumbles), then brown in separate pan, and add to sauce mixture for the 15 minutes.  It was a new twist and came out really well!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

xo-j