It's What's For Dinner

I watch a lot of cooking shows. They really are my favorites right now. I love to eat...and, I love to watch other people cook. I enjoy cooking but I don't enjoy the time it takes to plan, shop, prepare and clean up for a simple meal when I could probably be just as happy with something way less time consuming. And now that it is just my husband and me at home, everything I DO make ends up lasting many, many meals.

And so, it even took me by surprise when I was watching "The Chew" the other day and saw Michael Symon make "the world's best baked ziti" and just KNEW that I was going to be making that dish soon! You would think I would save it for the next time we had company but I think seeing Clinton Kelly dive into it and come out with gooey mozzarella cheese all over his chin was the deal breaker. I wasn't waiting for company!

And so, when we were at the grocery store the other day, I picked up the ingredients. This is not an inexpensive dish even though it has no protein. It has lots of fresh cheese and fresh herbs. It also is not the healthiest of choices, but I still could not help myself.

And so, today was the first chance I had to put this little beauty together. It also has a lot of steps, so it isn't all that quick either but somehow the promise of that gooey cheese running down my chin drove me on!

I was boiling up 2#of ziti as I was making the sauce so I had to get out the "big guns" for this one! I love my pasta pot but I don't use it very often because it takes so much water hence, so long to get it to a boil!

This stuff was DELICIOUS!!! It is definitely a keeper recipe-unlike a lot of the other new recipes I have tried of late!

I would rather have sprinkled basil over the top, but I used it all in the cheese mixture. Next time I will make sure to have enough but the fresh parsley was acceptable.

It's a good thing we love this so much as there is LOTS of it left! Next time I will be sure to invite some company! Stay tuned.