Baked Ziti-Lasagna Style

I have the most creative husband when it comes to cooking (and more). I have this recipe I found online, almost a year ago, for Baked Ziti. My family LOVES this recipe, but its more costly than just making Spaghetti, so we don’t fix it often. It calls for about 1 1/2 cans or jars of spaghetti sauce and a jar of garlic alfredo sauce. We happened to have coupons for these 3 items, plus the sauces and noodles were on sale, so we decided to make some Baked Ziti. Then my hubs says he wants to cook it and hes turning it into Baked Ziti Lasagna Style. So, I’m posting the recipe for Baked Ziti-Lasagna style here…try it for your self. IMO it is AMAZING!!!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds of ground beef or turkey

1 can or jar (26 oz.) of spaghetti sauce

half a can (28 oz.) of Furmano’s Chunky Crushed tomatoes WITH Basil, Garlic & Oregano (or any brand)
*Note: You can substitute the crushed tomatoes for more spaghetti sauce*

1 jar (16 oz.) Garlic Alfredo Sauce Or any white sauce (We used an Artisan 3 Cheese sauce) *Note the Garlic can be a bit strong.

1 box (1 lb.) Lasagna Noodles (depending on the size pan you use, you might have some noodles left over)

2 cups Shredded Cheese (any kind)

 

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray.
• Prepare pasta according to directions.
• In a medium sauce pan, brown ground beef.
• Pour in one jar of spaghetti sauce. Keep mixture on low until pasta is done.
• Heat the Alfredo sauce at the same time.
• When pasta is finished, drain excess water from pasta. *You may want to have it sit in cold water when its done, it is much easier to handle when its cool.
• Put a layer (not too thick) of  meat sauce in bottom of baking dish.
• Top with a layer of noodles
• Top noodles with a layer of white sauce
• Top white sauce with shredded cheese
• Top with another layer of noodles
• Top noodles with a layer of meat sauce
• Continue this process until baking dish is full or you run out of noodles
  *end with a layer of meat sauce*
• Top meat sauce with cheese
• Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 15-20 minutes.
  *Can bake uncovered for about 10-15 minutes or until bubbly and hot-Just keep an eye on the cheese as it will burn quickly! (Skip last step if you do I this way)
• Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Let rest for about 5 minutes after taking out of oven.

Serve with Salad and Garlic Toast! YUM!