Baked Ziti & Paper Clay

I've been working on some paper clay figures using recycled bottles as the base! I've used both plastic bottle and glass bottles. I'm not sure which I like best--they both worked well. So here they are after I sculpted them from paper clay (over the bottles). It took a while for them to dry and they cracked, so I just kept filling the cracks until they looked smooth, then sanded them....

Then I painted them...they're kind of boring at this stage, not much detail! Everything on them is sculpted from clay, even the hats, scarf, Santas' beards & mustaches are 3-dimensional.

Next I antiqued them and added some details with colored pencils....

And here they are all finished (except the angel in the back--I'm still working on her!)

Okay, now I am going to admit something.....I am obsessed with seeing every episode of the Sopranos! I have all the episodes on my list at Netflix and when I get one, I can't stop with just one episode! I am watching season 6 now, so it will all be over soon. But something good did come out of this obsession....all that food on there looks SO GOOD! So I searched the internet for an authentic Baked Ziti recipe. I tried this recipe this week and it is wonderful! It made enough to send some with my parents, for us to eat for a couple of days and put some in the freezer! So here's the recipe, the way I made it.....try it out! Don't buy the cheeses already shredded or grated....especially not parmesean. It is so much better when it is freshly grated! Now what to drink with it?

Authentic Baked Ziti

1 lb. Ziti pasta

1 lb. fresh mozzarella (not part skim, not shredded!)

3/4 c. freshly grated parmesean

salt & pepper

crushed red pepper flakes

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

1/2 lb. sweet Italian sausage

1/2 lb. hot Italian sausage (I used mild)

1/2 medium onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

28 oz. chopped tomatoes

6 oz. tomato paste

2 sprigs fresh thyme

1 sprig fresh basil

Sauce:

Remove casings and crumble sausage. Add olive oil to pan & brown. Add onions & garlic & cook until onions are transparent. Add tomatoes, thyme & basil. Salt & pepper to taste, add a generous pinch of red pepper flakes. Heat to near boil, then cover and simmer on low for 5 minutes. Add tomato paste.

Boil pasta to not quite al-dente (it will cook more in the oven). Cut mozzarella, half in 1 inch cubes, the rest in really thin slices. Remove herb sprigs from sauce and discard. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray, then add pasta, sauce, cubed mozarella and half of the parmesean. Top with sliced mozarella and remaining parmesean. Bake at 350 about 30 minutes, or until golden.

Try it....your family will love you for it! Tell me how good it is and thank me later! :)