From My Kitchen ~Three Cheese Baked Pasta

I had planned to make cheese stuffed shells for our supper, but when I went to the pantry there were no pasta shells to be found. So I cooked up this Three Cheese Baked Pasta, and it was so delicious that I thought I'd share it.



THREE CHEESE BAKED PASTA

1 15 oz. ricotta cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (a little extra to sprinkle on top if you desire)
1 box (16 oz) pasta, cooked and drained
1 jar (26 to 28 oz) pasta sauce of your choice (we use 2 jars because Jeffrey likes it extra saucy)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (divided)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, combine ricotta cheese, eggs and Parmesan cheese; set aside.

3. In another bowl, thoroughly combine cooked pasta and pasta sauce.

NOTE: We prefer Radiatore shaped pasta because the little grooves hold the sauce so well, and they're bite size so Colton doesn't need assistance to cut them. Of course, you may use any noodle you prefer like ziti, bow ties, piccolini ... you name it, it works!

4. In a 13 x 9 baking dish, spoon 1/2 of the pasta mixture; evenly top with cheese mixture and then sprinkle with 1 cup of shredded mozzarella. Spoon remaining pasta mixture on top of cheeses. Sprinkle final cup of mozzarella on top. You can even sprinkle a little more parmesan on top if you would like.

NOTE: I had just a bit of shredded cheddar left so I sprinkled that on top, too. Like I really needed those extra calories ... BUT it did add such a nice color to the dish. I like things to look pretty as well as taste good.

5. Bake 30 minutes or until heated through.

YET ANOTHER INCONSEQUENTIAL NOTE: I mixed the extra jar of pasta sauce right in before preparing the recipe. Instead, you can just warm the extra jar up separately and let everyone spoon extra sauce on their serving to their own taste. I might do that next time because Colton was very unhappy with amount of sauce in his serving. He has some texture issues and messy is not a good thing for him.

Of course, we served it with bread and butter, and a nice side of steamed broccoli ~ our standard green veggie at most every meal.

Enjoy,
Lea