Baked Ziti

•August 29, 2009 • Leave a Comment

One of my favorite pasta dishes growing up was baked ziti with meat sauce.  I have fond memories of the smell in the house and knowing that I was going to have good leftovers for a few days.  Elizabeth and have been going the more vegetarian route of late so when I found this baked ziti recipe in our vegetarian cookbook I was a bit skeptical but it turned out pretty good.Baked Ziti

Baked Ziti:  Serves 6-8

  • 2 Tbs Olive Oil
  • 1/2 cup chopped Onion
  • 2 cups water
  • One 14.5 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp dried basil
  • 1lb Ziti
  • 3 medium roasted red bell pepers, sliced
  • 2 cups shredded mozzarella, divided
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1.  In a 2 quart saucepan, heat the oil over med high heat.  Add the onions, stir untill softened (2 minutes).  Add water, tomatoes (with liquid), tomatoe paste, basil, oregano, parsely.  Break the tomatoes with the back of your stirring spoon.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Preheat oven to 350

3. Cook pasta according to package; drain and return to pot but don’t heat.  Stir in the sauce you just made, the roatsted bell peppers, 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella, and the parmesan.

4.  Spoon into 9 inch or a 8 x 11 inch baking dish.  Sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella over top.  Bake 20 minutes or until heated through and the cheese has melted.

Roasted Red Bell Peppers

1. Preheat the broiler

2.  Cut the peppers in half lenghtwise.  Clean out the seeds and pith.

3.  Place peppers in one layer on a cookie sheet.  Broil, 4 inches from the heat, 5 minutes or until quite charred.  Turn and cook until second side is charred.

4. Place in a paper bage to cool.

5. Peel and discard skin

(you can use any color bell pepper for roasting)

Susan Enan the album I want to buy!

•July 22, 2008 • Leave a Comment

I saw Susan open for Over the Rhine several years ago at a smal bar in Boston.  I fell in love with her music and wore out the copy of her EP I bought at the show.  I got to chat with her for a few minutes as I was working otr’s merch table and got to sit next to her when she was done.  A sweet girl deep and intelligent and it shows in her music.  Sadly her newest album despite good reviews in places like Rolling Stone and appearances on TV shows (Bones) has hit many delays getting released.  Ill keep waiting for it though as Im sure it will be a favorite of mine.  She has a few songs on her myspace http://www.myspace.com/susanenan I recomend listening to all you can.

David Bazan

•January 23, 2008 • Leave a Comment

I love this guys music.  I would love to sit for afew hours over a cup of coffee or a beer and talk with him.  His career is full of rumors and ponderings about his faith and I have a myriad of questions I  would love to ask not to set things straight in my mind but really just to know where he is coming from and what drives him.  This is art and when his  (pedro the lions) cd’s were on the shelves of your local Christian bookstore they were one of the few bands in the Christian genre that were really really relevant to modern people both Christian and Non.

I got to see him at this wonderfull little coffee shop Cafe 11 in St Augustine, FL.  It was standing room only Jim Fairchild of All Smiles opened up for him.  Fairchild was very good I wish I had taken a phot of his guitar it was pretty beat and the pickup was duct tapped in place on the outside of the guitar.  He plays that thing hard and doesnt use any pick I was sure he was gonna have a callous simalar to a sixth finger when I shook his hand.

Here is a video of Bazan playing Harmless Sparks flowing into Fewer Broken Pieces I didnt take it but he played this at the show I was at.  I did take some video and it actually looks just like this but it’s sideways and I cant figure out how to fix it!

Relevance

•January 23, 2008 • 2 Comments

I have been in youth ministry for almost ten years now eight of which have been at the same church.  Over the past few years I have graduated out all off my original students who became my first children and have been starting over with a brand new batch of junior high students.  I feel old, unconnected, uniformed, unable to connect.  But I still love these kids and want to see them grow and understand and interact with thier parents faith so they can embrace it as thier own.  So how do you stay relevant? 

Hello world!

•August 10, 2007 • 1 Comment

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