Menu Monday: Baked Ziti, Fried Okra, and Rolls

Welcome to the very first Menu Monday! This is a six week series sharing one meal from our menu, each Monday. I'm considering having this series extend longer than six weeks, but that will depend on the feedback that I receive during this initial "trial run."

I hope you enjoy this meal as much as I do!

Baked Ziti:

This is a recipe that was invented after my parents had an Italian dish similar to this at a restaurant.

Ingredients:
2 lbs bulk pork breakfast sausage
Approximately 2 quarts (64 oz.) of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1 1/2-2 lbs penne noodles
3 cups mozzarella cheese
1-1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese
Mozzarella or cheddar cheese for sprinkling on top

Cook and drain noodles. While the noodles re cooking, brown the sausage, and add spaghetti sauce.
Place the noodles and the sauce mixture in a 10"x15" pan, and mix together. Add cheeses and mix well. Sprinkle cheddar or mozzarella on the top, and bake at 350* until heated through and cheese is melted.


Fried Okra:

One of our neighbors decided to bless us with the excess okra from his garden....the only problem was, that most of us had never tried okra before..  This is our favorite way to fix it now.

Ingredients:
Cornmeal
GF flour mix or wheat flour
Cajun seasoning
Eggs
Water
Oil

There's not really any specifics to this, you just have to mix together amounts based on how much okra you are wanting to use.
Mix together equal amounts of cornmeal and flour, along with a very small amount of Cajun seasoning. We used 1/4-1/2 teaspoon for two cups flour and cornmeal mix. Mix together equal amounts of water and egg.
Wash and cut the ends off okra. Slice into about one inch slices. Dip the okra in the egg/water mixture, and then into the flour/cornmeal mixture. After all the okra is dipped, deep fry in hot oil until starting to brown. Remove and let cool slightly before serving. Test a piece first, to find out how well done you like it.


Rolls:

This recipe was one that I found in one of our cookbooks, and adapted slightly to suit our family.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups warm water
1 cup oil or butter
1/2-1 cup honey, depending on how sweet you want your rolls
6 tablespoons yeast
3 eggs
1 tablespoon salt
9 cups GF flour mix or 10 1/2 cups wheat flour

Mix together water, oil, honey and yeast. Set aside about 15 minutes to sponge. Add eggs, salt, and 2 cups flour and mix. Add remaining flour, and mix well. Turn onto a floured surface, and knead bout 5 minutes. Shape into rolls and let rise on a greased baking sheet for about half an hour. Bake at 425* for about 10 minutes, or until starting to brown.
Makes about 4 dozen rolls.