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December 11, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Baked Rigatoni

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Dinner· Lunch· Recipes

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Baked rigatoni is one of those dinners that’s a go-to if I need a meal to stretch out over multiple days.  Last week Bookworm has piano lessons on Tuesday and his Band Concert on Wednesday.  That’s two days I need to be out of the house and back downtown no sooner than the boys got off the bus.  This meal is perfect to throw together during the day while they’re at school {or during the weekend if you’re out of the house too} and then just reheat when it’s needed.

Baked Rigatoni

Since I didn’t have any ricotta on hand, I whipped up a quick bechamel cheese sauce to help give it a creamy consistency.  I also left the beef on the large end while I was browning it so that there were larger chunks of meat in there; Monkey loves it when there’s items resembling meat balls in his dinner.  This was delicious as it was, but I think next time I may add in some diced tomatoes I canned over the summer.  I like sneaking healthy things into the kids meals without them even knowing!

Baked Rigatoni

What makes this even better is that it can go based on what you have on hand!

Don’t have ricotta and you don’t want to make a bechamel cheese sauce?  Then don’t!  Just leave it as beef, sauce, rigatoni, and top with mozarella!  I’ve made it this way multiple times, and the kids eat it up regardless!

Don’t have beef and spaghetti sauce, but you have chicken and alfredo?  And some spinach you say?  Well, by all means!  Chicken & Spinach Alfredo Rigatoni!

It’s completely adaptable to what you have on hand.  Keep it as simple as possible!  And trust me when I say, it’ll be eaten up just as easily!

Baked Rigatoni

Ingredients:

  • 1 box Rigatoni
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 2 cups spaghetti sauce {I use seasoned tomato sauce I made during the summer, but you could use a jar of store bought}
  • 2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
  • **Optional: for the bechemel sauce:
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

  1. Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish.  Cook rigatoni until just shy of al dente, about 10 minutes.
  2. While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in skillet over medium high heat.  Add onion and beef.  Cook until beef is browned and cooked through.  Drain the fat, if necessary.
  3. Add spaghetti sauce, turn heat to low allow to warm slowly until the sauce is bubbly.
  4. If making a bechemel sauce — melt butter in a small sauce pan over low heat.  Add flour, and whisk until smooth and thickened.  Add in Parmesan cheese, whisking until combined.
  5. When pasta is done, drain.  Carefully add the rigatoni to the meat sauce, stirring until combined.
  6. Layer half of pasta mixture to your 9 x 13 baking dish, then the bechemel sauce {if using}, then half the Mozarella cheese.  Repeat pasta layer and top with the remaining mozarella.
    **NOTE** If you’re not using the bechemel sauce, just pour the pasta into the 9 x 13 baking dish and top with mozarella.
  7. Cover with foil.  Bake in a 350°F oven for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes.

Serves: 8 – 10

Baked Rigatoni

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makingcentsmatter

makingcentsmatter
Only you can determine what your financial goals a Only you can determine what your financial goals are. If that means you're adding money to your savings account, or contributing to your retirement, while you are paying off debt, then so be it!⁠
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Do what looks right for you and your personal finances.⁠
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The trick to meal planning is to make it predictab The trick to meal planning is to make it predictable. But predictable doesn't mean the same thing week to week. You could have a chicken meal, a soup meal, a pasta meal, a leftovers meal, a family favorite meal, and so on.⁠
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House: $511.13⁠
Citi: $0 – this has a residual $3 in interest charges since payoff, due in April⁠
D NelNet: $100⁠
K NelNet: $100⁠
K Chase: $600⁠
Explorer: $336.27⁠
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Total Paid in 2021: $8,258.84⁠
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Extra Payment: There isn’t one this month since we were $25 away from zeroing out the budget for our February 15th monthly paycheck. That $25, and monies left from our January 15th paycheck, covered our OOP costs for Hubs’ filling. We also have some savings goals coming up that need to be met, making our debt payments a little lower for the time begin.⁠
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Then they get grumpy when it's their turn and it's not the proper input cable. #itwasmychargerfirst #dontlikeitgofindyourown⁠
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A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a bit in our February Budget Check-In about how much of this I think we'll owe, and you can check that out on my YouTube channel if you're interested, but I wanted to say here...⁠
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Nearly 10 years ago we were facing a $1,400 out-of-pocket portion for A's Phase 1 orthodontic work (I looked it up after I uploaded the video... we had a $1,400 portion).⁠
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It was a lot of money for us at the time. Our kids were 6, 2, and 3 months old. I don't think we even had $500 in savings, and I just left a part-time teaching job because it wasn't paying the part-time daycare bill, so paying our portion in full was just a dream I didn't think was achievable.⁠
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How's your paycheck budget coming along?⁠
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I foresee a goal for March's paycheck to at out less than twice. That's where this category went awry. $99.16 of it went to eating out. 😑 Some of it was avoidable, but not all of it. Having to drive to multiple appointments in one day during snow squalls and rearranging our whole day was one of those unavoidable instances.⁠
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Tracking our expenses - much like a budget review - is vital to sticking to your budget!⁠
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