Easy Cheezy Pasta Bake

I've yet to find a pasta that I don't love. The South Beach Diet and I do not get along well as I am pretty sure that I cannot survive without carbs. Sad, I know. There is very little willpower! This dish made me feel like I was back in school. My dorm had a food court style cafeteria and included a Sbarros restaurant (think food court pizzaria in just about any mall). I think I lived on their baked ziti for a majority of the year. Ah, comfort food!

I've made many different varieties of baked ziti over the years, but this is the first one that included ricotta cheese. It really had more of a disassembled lasagna feel to it, which I really did enjoy. My husband even declared this one as his new favorite pasta dish. It came together really quickly and would be a great weeknight meal.

Easy Cheezy Pasta Bake
1 lb dried ziti
16 oz part-skim ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
26 ounces spaghetti sauce
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 pound italian sausage, browned

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13" dish. Cook pasta according to package directions and drain thoroughly. In a large bowl, stir together cooked pasta, ricotta, italian sausage, and 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese until well-blended. Pour 1/2 of the spaghetti sauce, covering the bottom of the greased 9x13" pan. Spread pasta/cheese mixture over spaghetti sauce. Top with remaining spaghetti sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese & remaining mozzarella. Bake uncovered for 20-30 minutes until the casserole bubbles on the edges.

(The blog I found this on states that you can prep this in advance and can refrigerate it until you are ready to bake it. If you do this, they recommend baking for the full 30 minutes.)

Source: Dinner Time Ideas