What’s for Dinner? Yummy, Cheap & Easy Baked Ziti!

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I love cheap, easy, yummy recipes.  In fact, I think I might be obsessed with them!  When I find  a recipe that will feed my little family for next to nothing, takes less than 30 minutes to prepare, and is a crowd pleaser, I'm one happy momma!  Well, all of this week's recipes fit into the yummy, cheap & easy category 🙂  I wish I had the time (and energy) to cook gourmet fancy food more often around here, but in all reality, my kids wouldn't eat it, and we've got soccer and baseball and gymnastics and piano and . . . . (you get the idea). 

So here's my first cheap and easy recipe of the day!  If you want fancy food with pretty pictures you can check a few out here ,or here, or here (those ladies are amazing!) but if you want simple yummy food that's really, really cheap (and did I mention easy?) today's for you.  🙂

 Note – this recipe makes a LOT of ziti.  When I realized just how much, I decided to divide it into two pans and then freeze the second.  Even with the recipe divided, our family still had loads of leftovers!

 Cheap & Easy Baked Ziti (and yummy too!) 

Ingredients

• 1 (16 oz.) packaged ziti pasta Mueller’s Pasta BOGO $1.29, use $.55/1 from 9/12/2010 SS  
• 16 oz. ricotta cheese Sorrento 32 oz. Ricotta Advantage Buy $3, use $1/1 from Yellow Advantage Buy Flier, stack with $1/2 from 9/26 RP (you'll pay just $3 for a LOT of Ricotta!)  
•  1 lb. shredded mozzarella cheese (2 – 8 oz. packages)  Sargento Shredded Cheese On Sale $2, use $1/2 Sargento Shredded Cheese Publix Store Coupon from Yellow Advantage Buy Flier, stack with $0.50/1 Sargento from Kroger My Magazine School Days  
•  1 egg, beaten   
•  1 tsp. Italian seasoning  
•  1 (32 oz.) spaghetti sauce Bertolli Pasta Sauce BOGO $2.47  
•  1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese Kraft Grated Cheese On Sale $2.50, use $5/5 Kraft Cheese or Dairy Products   
•  1 lb. ground beef optional, we did not use ground beef but you could easily add it in, just cook and drain, then add to spaghetti sauce before mixing with other ingredients  

Directions  

Preheat oven to 375.  Boil pasta for 8-10 minutes or until al dente, drain.  In medium bowl mix together ziti, mozzarella, ricotta, egg, Italian seasoning, and 1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce.  Lightly grease 9×13 inch baking dish (or 2 smaller casserole dishes), and spoon ziti mixture into pan.  Add remaining pasta sauce & parmesan cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes, let stand 15 minutes before serving.   

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