amazing ziti

let me start by saying that this blog has turned into "how to deal with picky eaters" and "how to hide veggies in food" and "make dinner quickly, cheaply, and easily"... i didn't really expect any of that, but that's kind of what has happened, because that's what i need.

so... i said all that to say... this recipe intrigued me when i first saw it, because i found the idea of mixing carrots into a classic italian dish very interesting. however, i've made some edits to the recipe. but FIRST, this is exactly the recipe i saw...

ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef
2 cups shredded carrot
2 cans of Campbell's condensed tomato soup
2 1/2 cups water
8 ounces dried cut ziti pasta (about 2 1/2 cups)
2 teaspoons dried basil, crushed
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella (4 ounces)
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (1 ounce)

directions:
in a 4-quart dutch oven, cook ground beef and shredded carrot over medium heat until meat is brown.

 drain off fat.

stir tomato soup, water, uncooked ziti, basil, onion powder, and garlic powder into meat mixture in dutch oven.

bring mixture to boiling. reduce heat. cover and cook about 25 minutes or until ziti is tender, stirring occasionally.

once the ziti is tender, stir in mozzarella cheese.

the recipe says to sprinkle individual portions with parmesan, but i just sprinkled it over the whole thing, and left some extra on the table for individual sprinkling.

i also put the lid back on the dutch oven to let the cheese on top melt and to let the sauce thicken and it came out looking like this. YUMMO!

now, about these carrots... among the people that ate this, they were split as to whether the carrots were a good idea or not. they definitely don't "mix in" with the rest of it in appearance or texture. i completely understand the artistic edge of the carrots: they add a bit of sweetness and a little bit of texture that you don't expect with the ziti. BUT in my (and my husband's) opinion, the carrots added a little too much sweetness. so.....

SUGGESTIONS: i would recommend cutting the shredded carrot back to 1 cup and also puree it in a food processor or a blender and mix it in the meat after the meat is cooked, at the same time you add in the tomato soup mixture.

ALSO, i would recommend cooking the meat with 1/2 cup to 1 cup of chopped onions to make up for the veggies that have been cut out from the suggested reduction in carrots. we're big onion fans, so i'll try it with 1 cup, but if your goal is to hide veggies, stick with 1/2. they'll blend into the meat and you will barely even see them.

i will try this again and give an update.

however...

this still became a member of the clean plate club (aside from a few of those pesky carrots....)

fin!

p.s. sorry for the sideways pictures. i don't know what happened, but i'll work to correct it!