dinner

Cheesy Ziti Pasta Bake

This cheesy ziti pasta bake is such an easy dinner time solution. I love to make it on busy nights because it uses simple ingredients, everyone loves it, and it bakes in a casserole dish!

Do you have those emergency dinners that you use on really busy nights or nights that you forget you have nothing for dinner (It happens to me all the time…. 🙂 ) Well, this cheesy ziti pasta bake is one of my emergency dinners.

It uses simple ingredients that I always have in the pantry; pasta, jarred spaghetti sauce, and canned diced tomatoes. And oddly enough, I always seem to have cream cheese on hand.

It comes together so quickly and then it gets baked all together in a casserole dish. Plus, it’s cheese and pasta so it’s a family favorite dinner that can please everyone at the table. I love to serve it with a side salad with our favorite veggies; cucumber, tomatoes, and carrots.

Let me know how you like this. It has saved me lots of nights of just feeding my kids Froot Loops for dinner. It’s their favorite cereal and when I am too tired or just don’t feel like making dinner, it’s either this cheesy ziti pasta bake or cold cereal 🙂

Cheesy Ziti Pasta Bake

If I have Parmesan cheese on hand I will sprinkle some on top of the dish before placing in the oven.

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Ingredients

1 box (16 oz) ziti pasta
1 jar (24 oz) pasta sauce, any variety
1 can (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes, undrained
1 block (8 oz) cream cheese, cubed
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
dried basil & dried parsley

Instructions

Heat oven to 375 degrees and spray a 9x13 casserole dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
Cook pasta according to package instructions. Remember to salt the water to add some flavor to the pasta noodles, if wanted.
While pasta is cooking, add pasta sauce, tomatoes and cream cheese to large pot and cook until well blended and cream cheese is melted. When pasta is done, drain it and add to the pot of spaghetti sauce. Mix together.
Dump half the pasta in the casserole dish, dollop half the sour cream, and then sprinkle with half the mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers. Sprinkle the dried basil and dried parsley on top.
Cook for 20 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes and then serve.

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