Baked Ziti and Willard Bean Soup prep

Ahhh another Monday. They are tough because I'm always tired from the weekend, and moreso when the baby wakes up at night. Because of plans and visitors I did not do as much pre-prep as I would like.

Baked Ziti
Adapted from All Recipes.com

• 1 pound dry ziti pasta
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 pound (1 package) hot italian turkey sausage, cut into coins
  
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce
• 1 bag (2 cups) mozzarella cheese, shredded
  
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tsp italian seasoning
  

Cook the pasta to al dente (almost done), drain and set aside. Cook the sausage and onion together with some italian seasoning if you desire. Add some garlic, the spaghetti sauce and the pasta and stir together.

Spray a 9x13 pan with PAM or nonstick cooking spray and add half of the pasta/meat/sauce mixture. Spread the sour cream and 1/2 of the mozzarella on this layer and top with the rest of the pasta mixture. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese to taste.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until the cheeses are melted and browned on top.

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Tonight I am also prepping the Willard Bean Soup for the crockpot on Tuesday. First, I make what is called a mirepoix. This is fancy term for "soup base." Basically, you just dice up some onion, celery and carrot and sautee them with some salt and pepper and then add them to your soup broth. Into the crock:

mirepoix
8 cups vegetable stock (I use Penzey's)
1 lean ham steak, diced
pepper to taste
1 16oz bag white beans (Northern, canellini, small white, any type will do!) soaked overnight and rinsed

Cook on high for 8 hrs (takes that long that high to cook the beans)

It's delicious!