Hey! It's-a Mostacholi

This Italian dish is one of mine and Matt's favorite dishes to eat. I learned how to make it from one of my best friends that use to live here until she moved back home this year. She had me hooked on it since I first tried it and same with my husband when I made it for him. So, thank you so much, Kristin! I miss you.

Although, my recipe isn't exactly like hers because I tweaked a few things, I still wanted to give credit to her.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30-35

Serving Size: 6 (not going up for seconds)

• 1 package of Johnsonville Italian HOT ground sausage
• 1 box of Mostacholi noodles
• 1 package of 1 lb. Mozzarella cheese (the first time I made this, I used 1 lb. and 20 oz. of cheese and it was good, but really cheesy. So it's up to you.)
• 2 cans of sauce (I can't remember.. but I think they are 20 oz. cans. You can use either regular or spicy sauce)
• Ricotta cheese (optional)

First start off by adding water to a large pot and allowing it to boil. During that time, add the ground sausage to a pan over medium heat until it's brown.

Your water should be boiling now, so go ahead and add the Mostacholi noodles and set the timer for 10 minutes.

If your meat is brown before the noodles are finished, just keep them in the skillet.

You can start to preheat the oven to 350* that way it's hot by the time the Mostacholi goes into the oven.

Once the noodles are finished, go ahead and drain the water. Place the noodles back inside the pot you were using.

Now, drain the meat (this is why I mentioned to keep the meat in the pan until after the noodles are drained so you can use to the same drainer without having all that grease on your noodles...am I smart, or what?). When the meat is drained, you can put that in the same pot as the noodles are in. Then, mix together.

Add the sauce and mix it together. You don't need to use all the sauce if you feel like it is saucy. You can add as much or little as you feel. I just usually use around 1.5 - 2 cans each time.  After the sauce is in there, if you like Ricotta cheese, you can add a couple spoons of that in. If not, it's not a huge deal.

Everything is now mixed in together. Grab an 11x9 or 13x9 dish, or if you want to make 2 separate ones to split it up, that is fine too.  Put a layer of the noodle mixture on the bottom of the dish; covering the entire bottom.

Then add a layer of Mozzarella cheese covering all of the noodle mixture.

Then add another layer of noodle mixture and another layer of Mozzarella cheese on top.  Usually, I can only do 2 layers, but if you have enough to make more, just repeat the process.

Put the Mostacholi dish into the oven at 350* for 30-35 minutes.

Then, Enjoy :)