Ziti Pepperoni Casserole

Charmie777's Note:

This is my kids' favorite meal. And it's so easy to prepare, that they often do it themselves! It's very cheesy! I've also made this and cooked it in the microwave during the summer. Freezing instructions included. If you prefer, you may sub in ricotta cheese for the cottage cheese.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 1 (16 ounce) box ziti pasta , cooked and drained
• 1 (32 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
• ½ lb mozzarella cheese , grated (or more)
• ½ lb cheddar cheese , grated (or more)
• ½ lb pepperoni , chopped
• 1 lb cottage cheese

optional additions

• bell pepper
• mushroom
• onion

Directions:

1. Set aside some of the cheeses for topping the casserole.
2. Mix remaining ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Spoon into a 13x9 baking dish.
4. Top with remaining cheese.
5. Bake at 375º for 40 minutes or until lightly browned on top.
6. To freeze: Cover dish with foil and freeze. When frozen you can pop it out of the container and put in a freezer bag if desired. To heat: Thaw and preheat oven to 350°F Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10-15 minutes more.

Reviews

[Margie99]

This was really good stuff. It was really easy to make. I used less pepperoni because sometimes my kids find it spicy and I used the sliced stuff which I microwaved for a 1 1/2 minutes between layers of paper towel, it makes it less greasy. I used a 26 oz jar of spaghetti sauce and ended up using about half of another jar. I'd like to try it with bell pepper, onions and black olives but not unless I make another one for the kids. Maybe I could seperate it into 2 smaller dishes. Yum.

[*Huntergirl*]

I'd never thought about adding pepperoni to ziti and planned to make as it but made some changes along the way. I added 1lb of ground chuck that I browned with a small can of mushrooms and 1/2 cup or so of frozen tri pepper and onions mix. I was short 1/2 cup of cottage cheese so added 1/2 cup sour cream and mixed that together in a bowl with 1/4 cup grated parmesan, 1 cup mozzarella and 1 cup cheddar. I put this in 2 dishes (freezing one) layering with saucy noodle meat mixture, 1 layer of cottage cheese mixture, noodles again and then shredded cheese on top. My 2 year old has been kind of picky lately and ate this up! Thanks! :)

[Chef #1192485]

I make this for my family of very picky eaters. There is NEVER any left!