Looks can be deceiving

I have one shelf of a book case dedicated to cook books, but I wouldn't say I have an abundance of them. I feel like I have looked through the pages of those that I do have hundreds of times.  Sometimes a recipe will jump out when it hasn’t in the past. I have two Real Simple cookbooks and love the simplicity (heh) of the recipes and photography.  Pasta bakes are always a good idea, so this recipe looked doubly appealing.

At some point, fuzzy math happened while writing down the few ingredients we needed and even at the store the mass quantities of food that was being procured for this recipe never struck me or Mr.BKL as a bit much. I guess I can’t speak for him directly, but he didn’t let on that this was going to make one metric ton of food.

I blame the artistic photo that accompanied the recipe.  It’s vanishing point on the horizon fooled me into thinking we were making a 9x9 sized dish, not a 9x13 sized dish. That and I didn’t really bother to read the whole thing.  Fuzzy reading I guess. Perhaps the fact that this recipe is in the Freezer Meals section should have been a clue as well?

See?  Totally looks square.

Overflowing the biggest pan we own.

Action shot! Mr. BKL trying to contain the behemoth into the baking dish.

At the end of the day, this was an easy delicious meal. A few healthy swaps we made:

-90% or better lean ground beef
-skim ricotta cheese
-part skim mozzarella

This time I didn’t go for whole wheat pasta.  Just wasn’t feeling it.

Here is a link to a similar recipe online.  Interesting is that even in half it makes 4 servings.  If we would have halved ours, we would have still had 6 servings.  So use those nutrition facts provided at the bottom cautiously. I did some more fuzzy math and figured that 1/12 of our recipe resulted in about 450 calories.

Here is the one we made:



Lasagna Style Baked Zita
from Real Simple Meals Made Easy

Ingredients

-1 pound dry ziti
-1 tablespoon olive oil
-1 large onion, chopped
-3/4 t. kosher salf
-3/4 t. black pepper
-1 pound ground beef
-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
-1/2 cup chopped fresh oregano or 1 1/2 T. dried oregano (optional)
-1 24-26 ounce jar marinara/pasta sauce
-1 15 oz. container ricotta
-1 10 oz. box frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed to remove excess moisture
-1/2 cup grated Parmesan (2 ounces)
-1 cup grated mozzarella (4 ounces)

Directions

Heat oven to 400F. Cook the ziti according to the package directions. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onion, salt, and pepper, and cook for 5 minutes. Add the beef and cook, crumbling with a spoon, until no trace of pink remains, about 7 minutes.  Add the pasta sauce and cook for 3 minutes.  Remove from heat. Add the drained ziti to the pot and toss.  Add the ricotta, spinach, and 1/4 cup of the parmesan and toss again. Sprinkle the mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish. (I sprayed mine with cooking spray, too.) Sprinkle with the mozzarella and remaining parmesan.  Bake until the mozzarella melts, about 15 minutes.

You can also freeze this by covering with aluminum foil after assembling, but not baking.  When ready to bake, thaw it overnight in the fridge.  Then cover and heat in a 350F oven for 1 hour. Uncover for 10 more minutes until the mozzarella melts.