Making New Recipes

If you are like me, you always have a few items in your 'fridge that were needed for recipes, but maybe only half the container was used. I found some of those last week and decided on a new plan... I will come up with at least one recipe a week that will use up some of those things before they go bad. Here's what I had last week: ricotta cheese and cottage cheese left over from a lasagna recipe. Now I have a new recipe that I kinda made up last week to use them up...

Pasta Bake

Ingredients:
cottage cheese
ricotta cheese
1 lb ground beef
1 jar spaghetti sauce
pasta
shredded mozzarella

Preparation:
Brown the ground beef; drain off any fat. Combine beef, sauce, and cottage cheese and let warm on the stove. While this is simmering, go ahead and cook your pasta. I used penne that I had gotten on sale that week. When pasta is almost done, drain. In a casserole dish, layer as follows : sauce, noodles, ricotta, shredded cheese, and repeat until you run out, ending with shredded cheese. I did two layers, but only had enough ricotta for one layer. It was still pretty yummy and it used up items I had on hand as well as those that were on sale last week! Can't beat that!

I challenge you go try this in the next week or so! Go through your 'fridge and see what you find. If you end up with a yummy recipe, be sure to come back and post it!!