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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 Foods That Can Make You Happy.

Most of us believe that comfort foods are bad for us and that we must stay away from them. At times, if your comfort food is essentially candy or other junk foods, this holds true. Soemtimes, comfort foods can be perfectly healthy and good for us to consume. There are a number of foods that actually can improve your moods when you consume them. When you feel a little down and need an emotional pick-me-up, try a couple of these.

Eggs, believe it or not, can be truly great at beating back depression. You need to make sure, though, that what you make includes the egg yolk. The egg yolk is the most important part of the egg in terms of helping raise your mood. Eggs, specifically the yolks, are loaded with B vitamins. These B vitamins are terrific for helping to boost your mood. This is because they help improve the function of your neural transmitters, the parts of your brain that affect your mood. Try eating an egg and jolly up!

As you can see, you don’t need to eat all that junk food when you wish to feel better! Try a few of these hints instead.

We hope you got benefit from reading it, now let’s go back to baked rigatoni and meatballs recipe. To make baked rigatoni and meatballs you only need 19 ingredients and 5 steps. Here is how you cook it.

The ingredients needed to cook Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs:
  1. Get 1 box (16 oz.) rigatoni noodles
  2. Provide 2 cups ricotta cheese
  3. Provide 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  4. You need Sauce:
  5. Provide 1 tbsp. olive oil
  6. Provide 3 cloves garlic, minced
  7. Take 3 cans (8 oz.) each unsalted tomato sauce
  8. Use 1/4 cup heavy cream
  9. Get 1 tsp. each dried basil, dried parsley
  10. Get 1/2 tsp. each salt, granulated sugar, onion powder
  11. Provide 1/4 tsp. pepper
  12. You need Meatballs:
  13. Provide 1 lb. ground beef
  14. Prepare 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
  15. Provide 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
  16. Take 1 large egg
  17. Get 1 tsp. dried parsley
  18. Take 1/2 tsp. each salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, basil
  19. Prepare 1 tbsp. 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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