Baked Ziti

Ah, baked ziti. My sister makes delicious baked ziti. I probably should've stuck with her method but I tried to make it little less cheesy and I added a few other things. Let me show you what I did and I let you know where I wish I'd done something different. Please let me know if you have another version of baked ziti that you love!

First I cooked 3/4 lb. of pasta. (I undercook the pasta so it doesn't become total mush when it's baked.) Next I sliced and cooked 2 links of Italian sausage. (I know my sister takes the sausage out of the casing and cooks it like ground meat.)

I then added 1/2 a green pepper, diced, and 1 small onion, diced. I let these saute with the sausage and then I added 1 clove of garlic, chopped.

Then I added 1 can of diced tomatoes, 1/4C red wine, 1t dried basil, and 1T dried oregano. I stirred, covered, and let this cook for a few minutes.

I turned off the heat and added 15 oz. of ricotta cheese and 4-6 oz. of cubed mozzarella. (The ricotta separates and looks pretty gross using this method. So I think either more tomato sauce next time to make it saucier or an egg and some parmesan to make it more like lasagna.)

I then mixed in the cooked pasta. I baked this covered in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. I then topped this with about 4 oz. of sliced mozzarella and baked this uncovered for another 10-15 minutes. It was quite yummy but, as I said, room for improvement!