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Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs
Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs

Before you jump to Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs recipe, you may want to read this short interesting healthy tips about Suggestions For Living Green And Saving Money Within the Kitchen.

It was not really that long ago that hippies and tree huggers were the only ones to show concern regarding the well-being of the ecosystem. Those days are over, and it appears we all realize our role in stopping and conceivably reversing the damage being done to our planet. According to the industry experts, to clean up the surroundings we are all going to have to make some adjustments. These kinds of modifications need to start taking place, and each individual family needs to become more environmentally friendly. The cooking area is a good starting point saving energy by going a lot more green.

While it may not taste as good, baking food in the microwave as an alternative to in the oven will save you a packet of money. As soon as you find out it will require 75% more energy to cook in the oven, chances are you’ll look for more ways to use the microwave. Countertop appliances can boil water or steam vegetables more rapidly than your stove, and use a lot less electricity. You will be forgiven for thinking that an automatic dishwasher uses more energy than washing dishes the old-fashioned method, but you would be wrong. Particularly if you make sure the dishwasher is full previous to starting a cycle. Preserve even more money by air drying as well as cool drying your dishes as an alternative to heat drying them.

The kitchen on its own gives you many small methods by which energy and money can be saved. It is quite straightforward to live green, of course. A lot of it really is basically making use of common sense.

We hope you got benefit from reading it, now let’s go back to baked rigatoni and meatballs recipe. You can have baked rigatoni and meatballs using 19 ingredients and 5 steps. Here is how you cook it.

The ingredients needed to prepare Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs:
  1. Prepare 1 box (16 oz.) rigatoni noodles
  2. Prepare 2 cups ricotta cheese
  3. Take 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  4. Prepare Sauce:
  5. Prepare 1 tbsp. olive oil
  6. You need 3 cloves garlic, minced
  7. Get 3 cans (8 oz.) each unsalted tomato sauce
  8. Get 1/4 cup heavy cream
  9. Get 1 tsp. each dried basil, dried parsley
  10. Provide 1/2 tsp. each salt, granulated sugar, onion powder
  11. Use 1/4 tsp. pepper
  12. You need Meatballs:
  13. Take 1 lb. ground beef
  14. Prepare 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
  15. Provide 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
  16. Prepare 1 large egg
  17. Use 1 tsp. dried parsley
  18. Take 1/2 tsp. each salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, basil
  19. You need 1 tbsp. olive oil
Steps to make Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs:
  1. First thing to do is get your sauce going. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Once it's hot, add the garlic. Cook and stir just until it's fragrant… only a minute or two. Then pour in the tomato sauce, cream, sugar and seasonings. Once it starts to simmer, reduce the heat down to low and start preparing the meatballs.
  2. For the meatballs, place the ground beef, breadcrumbs, cheese, egg and seasonings into a large bowl. Use your hands to mix and incorporate everything together. Then roll the meat mixture into mini meatballs. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Once it's hot, add the meatballs to the skillet in batches. Cook and roll them around in the skillet every few minutes until they are browned on all sides. Then remove them from the skillet and stir them gently into the sauce.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13" baking pan and set it aside. Heat a large pot of salted water over high heat. Once it begins to boil, stir in the rigatoni pasta and cook according to package directions, until al dente. Drain and return to the pot. Then stir the ricotta cheese into the hot pasta. Add the sauce and meatballs to the pot and stir it all together. Then turn it out into the greased pan and sprinkle the mozzarella cheese evenly over the top.
  4. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes, or until heated through and the cheese has a nice golden color. Serve immediately.
  5. If you only wanted to bake a smaller serving at a time, you could turn out the pasta mixture into two greased 8x8"baking pans instead of the larger 9x13". Top one with cheese and cook it immediately. Let the second one cool down completely, then top with the cheese, wrap it up tightly and place it in the freezer. The night before you're planning on baking it, place it in the fridge to thaw out overnight, then bake it for 30-40 minutes or until 165°F throughout. Each 8x8" pan will serve 4 people.

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