Baked Ziti...and the 2nd Pan

Monday was a cold, rainy, dreary day here in Virginia. As I was thinking about supper, something warm and filling was sounding good. I started looking for some recipes and decided on a baked ziti. I wanted something fairly easy, and after reading a few recipes, tweaked them into my own. This makes enough for a 9x13 pan, or 2 smaller 8x8 type pans. I'll explain later what I did with my 2nd pan! Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 package penne pasta
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1lb mild Italian sausage
• 2 jars marinara sauce
• 1 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 package chopped spinach (thawed)
• 12 oz ricotta cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• 8 slices Provolone cheese
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Cook pasta according to directions, leave al dente.
• Drizzle a bit of olive oil into a deep skillet, add onions and sweat them out, then add sausage and brown; drain fat.
• While the sausage is browning, prepare the spinach. (Make sure it is thawed, and squeeze out the remaining water so it does not water-down the sauce.) I did an extra chop on the spinach to ensure it was small enough for my kids to not notice so much!
• Add marinara, spinach, basil, and oregano to the sausage. Heat together until bubbling, and simmer 15 minutes.
• Add ricotta cheese to the marinara sauce, mix in and bring back to a boil.
• In a large bowl, toss pasta with the marinara sauce.
• Put 1/2 the pasta mixture into the pan, and layer with provolone cheese. Add the rest of the pasta, and finish with a layer of mozzarella cheese.
• Cover with a tent of tin foil, and bake for 30-45 minutes until the cheese is bubbly.

As I was putting it all together, I decided to make 2 pans of ziti: one to eat and one to freeze. After packaging the "extra" pan for the freezer, I started thinking about who could use that meal. A gal from my Bible study came to mind, then I realized that she is nursing a baby and has cut out anything spicy or with tomatoes. Still feeling like this pan was suppose to go to someone, I put it in the fridge. On Tuesday morning, Andy and I went to our small group Bible study. One of the gals mentioned that her husband is out of town again this week. She has an active, almost 3 year old boy, a super climber 15 month old little girl, and she's pregnant with their 3rd. I knew a meal would bless her family...and it did! After Andy's nap, we packed up the ziti, french bread and some fruit and dropped it off at her house. She was very grateful to have the meal, and I was so happy that it went to a great family!

So, if you make this recipe, who are you going to bless with the 2nd pan?