**Full Disclosure: I received a gift card to purchase ingredients for the recipe but was not compensated in any other way. All opinions are my own.
Last week I let my boys make dinner – everything but putting it in/taking it out of the oven. There was a little fighting over who was going to do what but that’s completely normal!
I was given the recipe and my goal was to make it my own. I had purchased all the ingredients we needed to make Ragú No-Boil Baked Ziti. James measured the water, added the Ragú, cottage cheese and mozzarella. Colin stirred and added the noodles. It was really nice to ‘cook’ for less than 10 minutes.
Each jar of Ragú® Old World Style® Traditional Sauce is packed with 11 juicy tomatoes, making it richer, thicker and just tastes better.
Ragú No-Boil Baked Ziti is the easiest recipe we (they) have made in a long time. It really could all be done in the 9×13 baking dish, but I thought it would be better for James & Colin to mix in a bowl.
The meal was DELICIOUS!!! We were supposed to put our own spin on the Ragú recipe I was given. We made it our own ‘Tra-Dish’ by swapping the ricotta cheese with cottage cheese. I was going to dice some onion and throw that in, but my boys said no.
Ragú No-Boil Baked Ziti #NewTraDish
Ingredients
- 1 jar 1 lb. 8 oz. Ragu® Chunky Pasta Sauce
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 container 15 oz. cottage cheese
- 1 pkg shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 12 ounces uncooked pasta
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 400°
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Mix Ragú and water in bowl. Stir in cottage cheese, 1/2 package of mozzarella cheese, some Parmesan cheese, and then uncooked ziti noodles.
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Pour the ziti mixture into 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 55 minutes.
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Remove foil and top with the other 1/2 of mozzarella cheese.
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Bake uncovered for more 5 minutes.
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Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
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ENJOY!
Recipe Notes
Recipe adapted from: http://www.ragu.com/recipes/detail/38476/2/ragu-no-boiling-baked-ziti
**Note: I don’t measure much of anything – so I just had the boys throw in a few pinches of Parmesan cheese.
Would you try the Ragú No-Boil Baked Ziti?
Did you have fun in the “kitchen” this week? Did you try a new food or a new kid friendly restaurant? Did your little ones use their snacks to count to 10? We invite you to share your experiences, photos, stories or recipes that include your #kidsinthekitchen!
Come join me and my co-hosts, Melinda at Look What Mom Found, Paula at Frosted Fingers and Sarah of Play2LearnWithSarah, each week by linking up a post, new or old, that features the theme Kids in the Kitchen. It doesn’t matter what you are doing as long as you are doing it together, enjoying it and learning something along the way.
- preparing healthy snacks
- having a tea party
- counting skills with m&ms
- pouring from measuring cups
- discovering a local restaurant that your kids love
- creating new family friendly recipes
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What a great “go-to dish”! I think I’ll always keep these ingredients in the pantry and then if I’m running behind I can pull it out! Thanks!
It is SO GOOD! I even made it for a friend after she had a rough week – and her SUPER picky kids asked for MORE!
Such a quick and easy recipe, great for those dinner in a rush nights. It’s always more fun for kids to eat what they help prepare!
I always love these posts of you cooking with your boys. They’re going to be amazing cooks when they grow up. And no-boil anything? I’m THERE. 😉
I can’t wait to have my kids make this recipe. I am always looking for recipes they can cook on their own or with very little help from me. I will also be checking out your other kids in the kitchen recipes to give my kids more recipes to cook! Thanks!!
I love this idea! My kids love noodles and sauce. I use gluten free noodles and it is sooooo yummy!
This is awesome! Did you use special pasta, or will anything work as no bake?
The boys used medium shells. I made it again a few days later for a friend and used rotini noodles. Both worked really well!
Saves time and tastes great? Love it!
That looks so good!And your boys are getting so big!!
No bake noodles? That’s way too easy for the kiddos. My girls always want to help in the kitchen. I have to figure out how to have enough room to get it to work!
Put them at the kitchen table. You can put it in the oven from there!
Yes, we do that when it’s something that can be prepared away from the stove:) Their favorite is cookies or desserts!
My favorites are desserts, too! 🙂
My oldest would love to make this for sure. I love that my middle son could actually pitch in and help with some of the smaller tasks. Thank you for sharing this idea with us. It does look really good too!
It’s SO good! And just as delicious as leftovers!
I never would have thought to add cottage cheese instead. That looks amazing and sounds just as good. I’m going to pin this for future use.
That looks delicious!
I love Ragu and I love easy, peasy meals!
LOVE how kid friendly this recipe is! I think this may be dinner tonight! Also, I love that you say you don’t measure anything – I don’t either!! 🙂
It makes it really hard to write recipes that way! 😉
It has been ages since we have had baked ziti. My mom used to make it all the time, and hers comes out much better than mine. I have never tried a no boil method. This looks fun and the kids would love to help.
I would love if you would stop by and share on my weekly recipe linky, Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen.
So glad you could stop by and share this recipe on Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen. I can’t wait to make it.
I hope to see you back again. My linky goes live every Friday.
Have a great day.