Another Quick Dinner from Leftovers--Baked Ziti with a few Additions

Remember the post about making dinner in the time it takes to boil water?  Well I almost did it again.  Today I was cleaning out the fridge and found two left over chicken breasts, pasta sauce, half a container of ricotta cheese, and a tiny bit of broccoli.  So I decided to make baked ziti with a few additions.  I put the water on to boil.  Cut up the chicken and put another package of frozen broccoli in the microwave for three minutes.  While that was cooking, I put the ricotta into a bowl (there was about 8 ounces) and added half a cup of parmesan cheese and a few shakes of oregano.  I then cut up the broccoli florets into smaller pieces. Next, I  put a light coating of olive oil on a baking pan. When the pasta was done I drained it and put it back into the pot.  I added the chicken and broccoli and gave it a stir.  I then added the ricotta cheese mixture, about 3/4 cup of shredded mozzarella and about 2 cups of the pasta sauce.  I gave it a good stir and put all of this into the baking pan. I then sprinkled a little more mozzarella on top, poured on the rest of the pasta sauce and sprinkled on more mozzarella and some parmesan.  I covered it with foil and put it in a 350 degree oven for about thirty minutes. 

The actual prep took less than 20 minutes!  I made a meal with all four food groups and all in one pan in that amount of time. Of course you could leave out the chicken or substitute ground beef or turkey, but then you would have to take the time to brown it.  You could also leave out the broccoli, I just try to sneak in veggies whenever I can.  If you don't have pasta sauce made, you can always use sauce in a jar.  (Just don't tell my grandmother!)  Now I will tell you that I used a pound of pasta and with the other ingredients, it made a very large pan.  I wish I had put it into two smaller ones, so I could have frozen half.  Next time. 

Give this a try and let me know.  Please feel free to post comments in the comment section below this post.  I would love it if you would, just so I can see that it works!  Thanks.

Happy Cooking!

Carol
a.k.a. Nonnie