Bake for the Cure Recipe #3: Hearty Rigatoni

To bring more awareness to breast cancer this October, ABCD Diaries is participating in a Bake-Off with 19 other blogs. The Bake for the Cure Bakeoff is sponsored by ACH products.
The premise is simple: using ACH ingredients (Argo Corn Starch, Karo Corn Syrup, Fleishmann’s Yeast), prepare two recipes per week (Oct. 4 – 20) and post photos of the finished product.

So, each week we will be posting 2 recipes, one from the Bake for the Cure Cookbook and one personal favorite. The blogger with the most comments on their recipe posts wins $500, which would truly be a blessing for our family:)

Today, we are going to share a recipe from the ACH Cook Book...a filling fall dinner that is yummy, easy to make and easy to customize to fit your family's tastes:

Hearty Rigatoni

Ingredients:

4-5 links of Italian Sausage(this is my twist...originally the recipe calls for 1lb ground beef)

1 t minced garlic

3/4 t fennel seed

1/2 t crushed red pepper

1 can(14.5oz)diced tomatoes

1 can(8oz) tomato sauce

1/3 c dry red wine

2 pkgs French's Italian Spaghetti Sauce Mix

1 c half and half

1 c ricotta

8 oz dry rigatoni

1 c shredded mozzarella

Prep:15 min

Cook:45 min

Serves:10

Directions:

1. Brown meat until cooked through. Drain fat. Add garlic, fennel seed, and crushed red pepper and cook for 1 minute. Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, red wine, and spaghetti sauce mix and stir until combined. Gradually add half and half. Bring to a boil over medium hig hea, stirring occassionally. Add ricotta cheese, reduce heat and simmer for five minutes.

2. Cook and drain pasta. Move to an oven-safe casserole dish. Pour sauce mix over pasta and top with mozzarella cheese.

3. Broil until cheese just browns. Serve immediately.

Okay, first of all, I don't think it took 45 minutes to cook...it seemed like less. We also added fresh, sauteed spinach to ours to make it a one-dish meal. This recipe is pretty versatile and you could add in prety much anything to fit your family's tastes. It was a little hard to find fennel seed...we looked at 3 stores before finding it. I don't think we'll use it next time...it really adds a strong flavor to the dish, especially with sausage(which I think already has fennel in it) Next time I think we'll add a few more things like mushrooms, onions, maybe olives. This is definitely a hearty, cheesy dish that left everyone's tummies full:)

Have any ideas on how to change up this recipe? Want to tell us your family's favorite fall recipe? Want to help us win $500? Please share your comments below!! If you try this recipe, we hope your family enjoys it:)

Disclosure: We were provided with ACH products, a cook book and a gift card for materials to participate in this contest. All opinions expressed in this post are ours and ours alone.