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Before you jump to Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs recipe, you may want to read this short interesting healthy tips about Green Living In The Kitchen area Will Save You Cash.

It was certainly not that long ago that hippies and tree huggers were the only ones to show concern concerning the well-being of the environment. Those days are over, and it looks like we all comprehend our role in stopping and perhaps reversing the damage being done to our planet. The experts are agreed that we are not able to change things for the better without everyone’s active contribution. This needs to happen soon and living in methods more friendly to the environment should become an objective for every individual family. The kitchen is a good place to start saving energy by going much more green.

Although it may not taste as good, cooking food in the microwave as an alternative to in the oven will save you a packet of money. The energy used by cooking in an oven is actually greater by 75%, and perhaps this little bit of knowledge will spur you on to use the microwave more frequently. Countertop appliances will boil water or steam vegetables faster than your stove, and use a lot less electricity. You would be forgiven for thinking that an automatic dishwasher uses more energy than washing dishes the old-fashioned manner, but you would be wrong. A dishwasher is especially effective when it’s full before a cycle is started. Save even more money by air drying and also cool drying your dishes rather than heat drying them.

The kitchen on its own gives you many small means by which energy and money can be saved. Environmentally friendly living just isn’t that tough. It’s about being functional, usually.

We hope you got insight from reading it, now let’s go back to baked rigatoni and meatballs recipe. You can have baked rigatoni and meatballs using 19 ingredients and 5 steps. Here is how you cook it.

The ingredients needed to cook Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs:

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