Cheesy Ziti Florentine. Cheesy Ziti Florentine This is a relatively healthy recipe and the spinach is undetectable to picky eaters. I make this specifically to freeze so I can have a great homemade meal anytime with no mess or stress. Works great for a date night meal where you want to spend time together not slaving in the kitchen, or if you have children this is a. In a large saucepan, cook sausage, onions, green pepper, and garlic over medium heat until sausage is browned; drain fat. Made with spinach, green onions, lemon, and ricotta cheese.

Add the spinach during the last minute of the cooking time. Drain the ziti and spinach well in a colander. This easy, cheesy pasta recipe features ziti, turkey sausage, canned tomatoes, and fresh basil. You can have Cheesy Ziti Florentine using 13 ingredients and 11 steps. Here is how you cook that.

Ingredients of Cheesy Ziti Florentine

You need 1 lb of ground turkey.
You need 1 box of ziti (could use wheat or hidden veggie ziti).
Prepare 1 packages of frozen spinach, cooked and drained.
Prepare 16 oz of ricotta cheese (light).
Prepare 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.
Prepare 24 oz of tomato sauce.
You need 2 tbsp of basil pesto.
You need 2 tbsp of butter.
It's 2 tbsp of minced garlic.
You need 1/2 of medium onion.
Prepare 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese.
You need 1 of seasonings to taste.
It's 1 of optional specialty cheese to layer in the middle.

Cook pasta according to package directions for al dente; drain. A classic midweek meal, baked ziti gains complex flavor from fire-roasted tomatoes, a white wine cream sauce, and a trio of gooey cheeses. Even better, the pasta bake can be prepared up to a month in advance. Remove the outer wrappers from the box of spinach.

Cheesy Ziti Florentine step by step

Boil ziti in extra large pot, (do step 2 while boiling) drain return to pot and add tomato sauce, set aside.
Mix ricotta, pesto and cooked drained spinach in a bowl.
Melt butter in pan and cook onion and garlic to translucent, about 5 minutes and transfer to bowl.
In same pan brown turkey and season I used Italian and pepper, drain if necessary.
to the big pot with pasta and sauce add the turkey, garlic and onion mix, mozzarella and stir well (if there isn't enough sauce adding ketchup is fine, you can also add a little brown sugar if you're sensitive to tomato acidity). Then stir in ricotta mix. Now you should just have one gigantic pot of deliciousness.
From here you have options, bake it all... put into 3-4 disposable foil pans (2.25lb size) and freeze for multiple easy, delicious, mess free dinners another night or both this makes a lot... LOT about 8lbs.
Put in suitable sized pan(s) to bake or freeze. You can layer another cheese in the middle (I use mild chipolte or mozzarella slices), you can add more cheese to top, sprinkle with Parmesan or whatever you like.
If freezing close, label and date, put in freezer.
You can also just microwave!!!! I hate the ziti noodles on top after baking because they're dry and hard, they end up in my "reject pile". If you're like me, this ziti is perfectly fine to microwave (I never bake it) everything in it is cooked, and honestly it's quicker, just do it on 30-50% power with a paper plate on top.
If baking, bake 350-400, about an hour, again, everything in it is cooked you're simply just heating and melting. From thawed the same, just heat, oven, toaster oven or microwave!! Which also would make this a good dorm food.
Even after 3 huge boxes (about 7lbs) for the freezer I had more than enough for two serving!.

Drain the spinach and put into a large bowl. Our new favorite, even my daughter has even made it a few times. I make this specifically to freeze so I can have a great homemade meal anytime with no mess or stress. Works great for a date night meal where you want to spend time together not slaving in the kitchen, or if you. Place cottage cheese in a food processor; process until very smooth.