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Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs
Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs

Before you jump to Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs recipe, you may want to read this short interesting healthy tips about Choosing Healthy and balanced Fast Food.

Almost every single “get healthy” and “weight loss” article you go through will tell you to skip the drive through and make all of your meals yourself. There’s some benefit to this. Sometimes, though, the last thing you need is to have to cook an evening meal from scratch. Once in a while you need to check out the drive through when you are on your way home and complete the day. Why shouldn’t you be capable of do this every now and then and not have a bunch of guilt about slipping up on your diet program? This is because a lot of the well-known fast food restaurants out there are trying to “healthy up” their menus. Here’s how you’ll be able to eat healthfully when you are at a fast food spot.

Aim for the side dishes. It wasn’t too long ago that French Fries were your only side dish selection at a restaurant. Today the vast majority of the most popular fast food franchises have increased their offerings. Now you may get several different salads. Chili is another selection. Baked potatoes may also be bought. You can get fruit. There are so many possibilities that you can choose that do not force you to eat foods that have been deep fried. When choosing your meal from the drive through, pick out a variety of side items instead of choosing a pre-made “meal deal”. This makes it possible for you to keep your calorie count low and reduce your fat intake.

Logic claims that one the simplest way to stay balanced is to sidestep the drive through and never eat fast food. While, for the most part, this is a good idea, if you make intelligent choices, there is no reason to feel guilty for visiting a drive through one or two times a month. Sometimes what you need most is just to have somebody else do the cooking. If you choose healthy products, the shame usually associated with hitting the drive through shouldn’t be so bad.

We hope you got benefit from reading it, now let’s go back to baked rigatoni and meatballs recipe. You can cook baked rigatoni and meatballs using 19 ingredients and 5 steps. Here is how you do that.

The ingredients needed to prepare Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs:
  1. Take rigatoni noodles
  2. Use ricotta cheese
  3. Get shredded mozzarella cheese
  4. Provide Sauce:
  5. You need olive oil
  6. You need garlic, minced
  7. Prepare each unsalted tomato sauce
  8. Provide heavy cream
  9. Use each dried basil, dried parsley
  10. Prepare each salt, granulated sugar, onion powder
  11. Take pepper
  12. Provide Meatballs:
  13. Use ground beef
  14. Get breadcrumbs
  15. Take freshly grated parmesan cheese
  16. Provide large egg
  17. Provide dried parsley
  18. Use each salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, basil
  19. Use olive oil
Instructions to make Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs:
  1. First thing to do is get your sauce going. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Once it's hot, add the garlic. Cook and stir just until it's fragrant… only a minute or two. Then pour in the tomato sauce, cream, sugar and seasonings. Once it starts to simmer, reduce the heat down to low and start preparing the meatballs.
  2. For the meatballs, place the ground beef, breadcrumbs, cheese, egg and seasonings into a large bowl. Use your hands to mix and incorporate everything together. Then roll the meat mixture into mini meatballs. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Once it's hot, add the meatballs to the skillet in batches. Cook and roll them around in the skillet every few minutes until they are browned on all sides. Then remove them from the skillet and stir them gently into the sauce.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13" baking pan and set it aside. Heat a large pot of salted water over high heat. Once it begins to boil, stir in the rigatoni pasta and cook according to package directions, until al dente. Drain and return to the pot. Then stir the ricotta cheese into the hot pasta. Add the sauce and meatballs to the pot and stir it all together. Then turn it out into the greased pan and sprinkle the mozzarella cheese evenly over the top.
  4. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes, or until heated through and the cheese has a nice golden color. Serve immediately.
  5. If you only wanted to bake a smaller serving at a time, you could turn out the pasta mixture into two greased 8x8"baking pans instead of the larger 9x13". Top one with cheese and cook it immediately. Let the second one cool down completely, then top with the cheese, wrap it up tightly and place it in the freezer. The night before you're planning on baking it, place it in the fridge to thaw out overnight, then bake it for 30-40 minutes or until 165°F throughout. Each 8x8" pan will serve 4 people.

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