10ozziti or any short pasta of your choice, cooked and drained (reserve one cup cooking water)
1cupmozzarella cheese, freshly shredded
For the cheese mixture:
16ozricotta cheese
½ cupparmesan cheese
1cupmozzarella cheese
3garlic cloves, minced
12ozfrozen spinach, thawed and chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
For the tomato sauce:
24oztomato puree
1 ½ tbspolive oil
1tspgarlic powder
1tsponion powder
1tbspItalian seasoning
½ tspred pepper flakes
1tspsugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Into the can or bottle of tomato puree, mix in the olive oil, garlic and onion powder, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, sugar, salt, and pepper.
Shake it or mix it with a spoon until well combined
Prepare the cheese mixture: chop the thawed spinach and place it in a colander. Press it down to drain any excess liquid. Transfer it to a large bowl and add the minced garlic, ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella cheeses.
Mix everything well and season with salt and pepper. Add enough pasta cooking water to make the mixture creamy, about ¼ cup (may be more or less depending on the consistency of your mixture)
Add the cooked pasta to the cheese/spinach mixture and spoon in into a 9x13 inch baking dish
Pour the prepared tomato sauce evenly on top
Sprinkle one cup of freshly grated mozzarella on top and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve with freshly chopped parsley as garnish.