Italian Night

I needed a quick meal over the weekend but I also wanted it to be complete. I decided on all Italian and making baked ziti with garlic bread and salad.

The first thing that you'll want to do is cook the noodles. I used penne pasta and followed the cooking directions on the box. While the pasta was cooking a mixed about 6 oz. of ricotta cheese and a handful of a prepackaged Italian cheese blend together in a bowl.

Once the pasta was done cooking I drained it and rinsed it with cold water. This helps to stop the pasta from cooking anymore and to remove the starch so the noodles don't stick together. Then I mixed the noodles with my cheese blend and stirred in about a third of a jar of marinara sauce. What's great about this dish is that you can personalize it to your taste by adding less or more of cheese or sauce, it's all about what you like.

Once that's done and in a baking dish I put it into a 350 degree preheated oven for about 20 minutes.

While that is baking I get started on my garlic bread. I like to use fresh french bread but if you have some left over from the day before that works too. First you need to cut the bread in half and spread it with butter. Then I like to sprinkle it very lightly with garlic powder, be careful with it because if you over do the garlic powder the flavor will be overwhelming. Then I sprinkle it lightly with garlic salt. I like this combination because I've found that too much of either is overwhelming but if you only use one your garlic bread will turn out more like toast.

I put the garlic bread in with the ziti for the last four minutes of baking, then I take the ziti out and turn the oven to broil. Just let the ziti sit while you broil the garlic bread for about three minutes more. During this time you can throw together a super simple salad.

For the salad I like to have the bagged romaine lettuce then all I have to do is quarter some cucumber and grape tomatoes and I'm done. For me the grape tomatoes have the best flavor and the organic ones are delicious.

Once the bread is golden brown on top it's time to pull it out. You can then use tongs to hold it while you cut it with a very sharp bread knife so that you don't crush it.

Now you have a wonderful meal that everyone can enjoy, especially you because its was so fast and simple to make.