Baked Spaghetti 2.0

 

My homemade baked spaghetti with yummy garlic knots that you can find here. 

Ingredients:

• 16 oz box of angel hair spaghetti (or your choice of pasta)
• 2 - 16 oz packages of ground Italian sausage
• 24 oz jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
• 15 oz carton of ricotta cheese
• 6 oz jar of 4C Homestyle Parmesan Romano cheese
• 1 oz packet of Ranch dressing mix
• 12 slices of BelGioioso sliced fresh mozzarella

The method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown the Italian sausage in a large skillet, breaking it up into finer pieces as it browns.
2. While the sausage is browning, bring your water to a boil for the pasta and cook according to the package directions. Let thoroughly drain.
3. Once the sausage is browned, drain any grease and pour in the spaghetti sauce. Simmer on low for 20 minutes.
4. In a bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, parmesan/romano cheese, and ranch dressing mix.
5. In a 9x13 pan, spread the cooked pasta on the bottom of the pan. Next spread the ricotta mixture, followed by the spaghetti sauce with sausage. Finally, lay the slices of mozzarella on top.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until the cheese on top has browned a little and the spaghetti concoction is bubbling. Enjoy!

This is also something that freezes well to make ahead and cook later. If you're not a fan of Italian sausage, hamburger meat works well in it's place or no meat at all. You could also try different cheeses with this. Seriously, there's a lot of ways you can switch it up. Actually as I was typing all of this out, my youngest child said that he'd like to have mushrooms in it, also. 

Instant Pot Egg Bites (Totally Customizable and Easy!)

 

(You can see the mozzarella pearls showing through the tops of the egg bites)

Most recipes for egg bites on the internet make like 14 bites, but sometimes you just don't want to make that many so here is my recipe for 7 egg bites. And you can customize this with whatever ingredients you want like cheese, bacon (the Oscar Meyer Recipe Pieces on the salad dressing aisle is perfect for this), ham, sausage, veggies, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs
• Pinch of baking powder
• Dash of salt
• 7 Bel Gioioso Mozzarella Pearls (I get them at Walmart but this is optional)
• Silicone Egg Mold
• Trivet 
• Non stick cooking spray

The molds will not fit inside of an Instant Pot smaller than 6 quarts.

The method:

1. Spray the egg bites mold with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Mix the eggs, baking powder in salt in a measuring cup. (The spout comes in handy)
3. If you're adding other ingredients like cheese, meats or veggies, now is a good time to put them in the openings of the mold.
4. Pour the egg mixture in each opening until it's 2/3 full. Put the top on.
5. Add a cup of water to the liner in the Instant Pot. Set your Instant Pot to pressure cook on low and set the timer for 11 minutes for the 6 quart and 8 minutes for the 8 quart. 
6. Place the mold on your trivet with handles and place inside the Instant Pot. Put the lid on the Instant Pot and make sure the release valve is set to Sealing. Make sure Keep Warm is OFF.
7. Once the timer goes off, do a quick release by turning the valve to Venting. Once it is finished releasing steam, using a pot holder remove the egg mold on the trivet. Open the lid and let cool for a few minutes before inverting on a plate. You may have to tap the bottoms to give them a little help coming out.