Baked Ziti

Last year I made a meatball pasta baked dish.  I haven't posted yet because I haven't quite gotten the proportions right, but it is one of my favorite freezer meals.  Due to having a baby recently I haven't had the energy this year to make it.  That many meatballs is a big project.  Instead I made this baked ziti.  It is much faster and easier but has a similar flavor profile.  I will eventually get back to my meatball casserole, but this delicious meal fills that slot for now.

Difficulty: Easy
Category: Simple Side
Recipe Column: DN

Get the recipe at Smitten Kitchen.  I pretty much make the recipe as is.  Undercook the pasta slightly and rinse it with cold water after draining to stop the cooking process.  Also I don't bother to cut up the spinach.  I just add the whole leaves to the sauce.

To freeze:
Divide the pasta into containers, bags or pans. If you do pans you can top with shredded cheese before freezing.  I use containers to save space in my freezer, so I leave the cheese off.

To serve:
Thaw the pasta in the fridge overnight.  If you haven't already, transfer the mixture to a pan and top with shredded cheese.  I use a pre-shredded Italian mix.  Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees until heated all the way through, about 45 minutes.  Serve with salad or vegetables.

Coconut Green Curry

I have been working on this recipe for about a year and a half now.  The first time I made this it was very tasty, but I wasn't fully satisfied with the proportions of the different ingredients to each other.  I wanted to try again but still had five batches of the original in the freezer that needed to be eaten first.  When we finally did finish eating all of them it took me a while to get around to making it again.  So, here we are a year and a half later, and I am finally posting the recipe.  This is why posting here is so irregular.  The development process for freezer meal recipes is a long one.  This curry is delicious though.   I think it's worth the wait.

Difficulty: Moderate
Category: Simple Side
Recipe Column: CF