"Hey, Brandi Broke here. The boys and I are living in one of the brand new apartment complexes and they seem to be doing fine. With a house full of growing boys, 1 still an infant, food goes pretty quickly here. Since we're on a tight budget right now, I've decided to make one of our favorite meals, Baked Rigatoni with Meat Sauce and a nice Garden Salad. It gets them fast while supplying them with all of the protein and vitamins they need. It's also a "warm you up meal" for those cold, wintry days."

"Let me tell you what you'll need to have in your fridge and pantry before we get started. If you're out of the ingredients, I'll wait until you go to the store or have them delivered."

2 lbs ground beef (or ground turkey)
1 of each green pepper, red pepper and yellow pepper
1 large onion
2 cloves of garlic (not the whole bulb unless you're trying to keep vampires away)
salt and pepper
1 lb. rigatoni noodles
2 large jars spaghetti sauce (any flavor or brand will do)
2 pkgs. of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 large pot
1 large frying pan
1 large baking dish
4 cups water
aluminum foil
non stick spray

A little time goes by, "Are we all ready now? Good let's head into the kitchen."

"Once you have your ingredients on the counter, take the veggies, remove the stems and seeds from peppers along with any of that white stuff. Take your onion, peel and take that with the peppers and rinse. Bring back to counter and dice veggies."

" Take the veggies and place in a bowl to transfer to ground beef (turkey or whatever meat you like), season with salt and pepper and begin to brown everything. Once done, drain all of the fat from the meat and set aside. Take a large pot, add a bit of salt and all of the water, place on stove until it boils. Drop your rigatoni noodles into the pot and let cook unti al dente, soggy noodles won't do. While we wait on the noodles let's begin the sauce.

For the sauce, I like to use these seasonings:

1 tsp. oregano (fresh or bottled spice will do)
1 tsp. basil (fresh or bottled spice will do)
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. parsley

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Add spices, except for the parsley, one at a time. Stir sauce and place on medium-low heat. Watch carefully as it will begin to bubble, stir as often as necessary so it doesn't burn. Our noodles should be done, turn off heat, remove from stove and drain. rinse then let drain again very well.

"Once the sauce is hot, add the ground meat mixture to it and heat for a few moments longer. Place 1/2 of the rigatoni noodles in the non stick sprayed baking pan, pour 1/2 of the meat sauce over the noodles and mix well. Smooth out the whole thing in pan and sprinkle with 1 bag of shredded mozzarella cheese. Now take the other 1/2 of the noodles, pour into the pot of the other 1/2 of the meat sauce and stir. Pour the noodle/meat mixture over that in baking pan and smooth out the best you can. Sprinkle the other bag of shredded mozzarella cheese on top, sprinkle the parsley on top of rigatoni. Take enough foil to loosely cover top of pan, spray the side you will be placing on top of baking pan with non stick spray and place in your pre-heated 350 degree oven. Let bake just until cheese is melted and slightly browned and bubbly."

"I always seem to make a mess in the kitchen so, time for a clean up. Remember, always wash your hands after cleaning any messes so there will not be a transfer of bacteria."

"There now all clean."

"Okay, while we wait on the rigatoni, we'll start on our Garden Salad. You'll need:

1 head iceberg lettuce (or whatever lettuce you prefer)
2 large ripened tomatoes
1 large cucumber
1 large red onion, peeled and sliced
1 can pitted black olives, drained
croutons (any flavor you like, I use cheese)
1 bottle salad dressing (I use Italian)

"You want to take your tomatoes that have the ends cut off, the cucumber that has the ends cut off and the lettuce, the sliced red onion and rinse them. Take the lettuce and chop into bite-sized pieces, slice the tomatoes and slice the cucumbers."

"Take these veggies and place in a bowl, add the black olives, croutons and shake some of your dressing all over salad, toss well. Set bowl aside."

"Grab your rigatoni out of the oven and set on counter so it can cool for a bit. We don't wont burnt tongues from hot cheese now do we? Be careful when removing hot things from the oven to prevent from being burned. Remember to turn off your oven as well."

"We'll start with the salad first since our rigatoni has to cool off a bit. The salad looks good doesn't it?"

"Mom this is good. You really know what we like don't you?" the boys exclaim.
"Well there's enough in there for a few days of leftovers. Dustin, eat your tomatoes."
"Ahhhh mom, do I have to?" he makes an ugly face.
"Yes you do! They're good for you."

Well that's it for the Broke household, I'm glad you let us share this recipe with you. Goodnight.

*Special thanks to Eris3000 at MTS2 for her Garden Salad Custom Content who without it, this demonstration and recipe wouldn't have been.*