I’d rather swim with alligators than clean baseboards.
I’d rather run through a bee hive than clean the shower.
I’d rather give up going to thrift shops for a year than iron (ok, well maybe not that).
I’d rather cook a meal for an army of 200 than clean the oven.
I have a confession to make and I know you won’t judge me. I have never cleaned my oven (shame).
But I do love to cook. So my oven looks like a nuclear disaster and I always kick myself and ask why oh why didn’t I get a self cleaning oven?
One of our favorite messy recipes is baked ziti. It’s amazingly delish but I just take it out of the oven quickly and ignore the smoldering mess left behind in my oven.
It’s the perfect one pan dish to whip up with my girls on a Friday movie night – but boy is it messy.
Ingredients
- Three (28 oz) cans crushed tomatoes
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion - chopped
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 bay leaves
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 4 cups tomato sauce
- 2 cups part skim ricotta cheese
- 1 cup 2% low fat cottage cheese
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons grated locatelli cheese
- 1 lb ziti, cooked and drained
- 16 oz part skim shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven
- Stir in onion and cook until translucent
- Pour in crushed tomatoes
- Add crushed red pepper flakes and bay leaves
- Season pinch of salt and a few twists of pepper
- Bring to a boil then lower the heat and simmer
- Cook for 30 minutes (stirring occasionally)
- Preheat oven to 350
- Cook ziti according to package directions
- Heat olive oil in sauté pan
- Saute onion and garlic until tender
- Stir in tomato sauce and simmer for 10 minutes
- Combine ricotta, cottage cheese and eggs in a large bowl and mix well
- Add pinch of salt and pepper
- Add half of tomato sauce and cooked ziti and mix well
- Spread a little sauce on the bottom of a large baking dish
- Pour pasta mixture into baking dish
- Pour remaining sauce on top
- Sprinkle 2 tablespoons locatelli cheese on top of the sauce
- Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes
- Remove foil and bake for 10 more minutes
I’d rather spend time after dinner watching a great movie and munching on buttery popcorn – not worrying about cleaning up my oven.
My new motto: Less cleaning time = more family time!
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This is a sponsored post but I only speak the truth. See my full disclosure policy here.
‘favorite recipe that leaves your oven messy!’ I would have to say my homemade gooey cinnamon rolls
thank you for this opportunity
ColleenB.
Great giveaway.
My favorite recipe that leaves my oven messy every time is my deep dish lasagna.
Thank you for the fun giveaway!
Sandra
Pizza and cheesy potatoes
What a giveaway!
I am in the market for a new oven!!! I would say spaghetti casserole makes quite a mess in my oven!!
At present my double ovens won’t work. In fact, the self cleaning one doesn’t even open! I never realized what friends they were. I can still smell the aromas of turkey, pork, chicken and my most favorite of all, and the messiest Leg of Lamb! These are the smells of my childhood…we would open the door when arriving home from church and we could
catch the waft of “heaven” . Dinner ready!
In need of a double oven! I love to cook and I NEVER clean my oven either – ugh…. messiest meal for my oven is my eggplant parmesan – bubbly delicious 🙂
Oh boy, I would have to say my ribs are what makes my oven the most messy. But Yum!
My favorite recipe that leaves my oven messy is heavenly blueberry cobbler!!
I hope you got a new oven, Kelly! This one sounds like a dream. I love my LG washer and dryer. TFS! My messiest recipe would have to be oven roasted pork chops or oven baked bacon. Pork always seems to splatter everywhere!
Cherry pies leave my oven messy. Thank you.
Well…. my secret recipe for making a mess in my oven would be not following the directions for things like apple pie when it says PUT ON A TRAY IN OVEN to catch boil over. Currently I have burnt on apple pie goo in a big black heap at the bottom of my neglected oven.
Bliss
Whenever I make pineapple upside down cake, it bubbles over.
Our super cheesy lasagna always leaves my oven a mess!!!!
When the chef finishes the Lamb Burgers under the broiler! YUCK! P.S. my oven is currently kaput … so NOTHING!
TWEETED!
https://twitter.com/simplifybysara/status/337204726821158913
I not only want that oven, but I need that oven. The door on my oven does not open.Hard to clean an oven if the door does not open! The worst oven clean up is gooey pecan pie.
Pizza or pretty much anything with cheese…and come on, fried stuff with cheese is everybody’s favorite 🙂
Had to check the oven to see what was still clinging to the walls…seems cheesy dishes were the worst
culprits..so i must go with my lasagna or Rotini casserole as being the messiest.
It would have to be pies for the messiest oven for me. I cannot seem to make one without overfilling. The LG looks great, would love to have one!
Oh wow that looks good. My favorite recipe that leaves my oven messy- french apple pie. It always bubbles over 🙂
Hmm…probably Lasagna – it seems to overflow the dish every time. I never clean my oven either…shh.. that’s my hubby’s job!
I would have to say my grandmother’s specialty enchiladas that made her restaurant famous for 30 years! And this giveaway would be a timely blessing, because our current oven has given up the ghost!
I’d rather garden than clean an oven..what a great oven ! Yummy Ziti!!!
I love to make pecan pies…but sometimes they bubble over and I’ve forgotten to put that cookie sheet underneath. Sticky mess!
My homemade apple pie! I use the apples from my apple tree and make a mile high apple pie that always bubbles over. Even the antique pie bird that I place in the pie does not prevent me from having “apple pie goo” mess on the bottom of my oven!
Roasting chicken seems to always make my oven a disaster zone! Not spending an entire afternoon waiting for the cleaning cycle to work sounds like kitchen magic!
Cannot imagine having an oven that wasn’t self cleaning. Blech! I guess my messiest recipe is anything I cook when I fill the dish too fill. Chicken pot pit comes to mind. I just put a cookie sheet under it to catch the mess!
I love to make Mexican Pizza. Get Pizza dough, cook it for 5 minutes or so and add your favorite taco topping. I add refried beans, taco meat, salsa and cheese. Then after I cook it, I add sour cream – YUM! Cook it again for about 5-10 minutes and your done! Easy delicious dinner in minutes.
Oh, my, goodness! How I would LOVE that oven ! My messiest recipe would have to be Bar B Q ribs or Apple Pie. Wonderful giveaway.
That’s an Awesome Oven, would LOVE to have it….. and my messiest recipe is lasagna, it boils over all the time…
Glad to know I’m not the only one who makes a mess with lasagne! Thanks for the giveaway.
Cherry Turnovers and all their chewy goodness. OMG. Your Ziti looks so delicious. I can hardly wait to make it. Thanks.
There are lots of things that make our oven messy. My daughter likes to bake sweet potatoes and they always drip. When I make Shepherd’s Pie it usually drips gravy all over the oven. Sometimes I actually remember to put the baking dish on a cookie sheet to help prevent spills. A new oven would be so wonderful — ours is 35 years old!
Pasta dishes always make a mess. Great giveaway!!!
Great giveaway, thanks Kelly!! I tweeted: https://twitter.com/ALittleClaire/status/337354753937899521
Entry #2: Would love to have an easy to clean oven – I cook and bake so much that I always make a mess!!
{PS: I was photographing a hero food pic today and I picked a sprig of basil that is practically identical to the one in the top of your pic. In and out of the pictures it moved. So funny.}
I have a great recipe for a chicken breast rolled up on bacon cooked at a high temp — but boy does it splatter and smoke!
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie has made a mess bubbling over~!
Meatloaf always makes a mess in my oven. Wonder what I do wrong?
Wow! How “bout that? Just press the EASY button and your oven will be clean! We’re in the market for a new range and the double ovens really appeal to me. Your ziti recipe looks so delicious, but I am not familiar with locatelli cheese. The thing that create the biggest mess in my oven is peach pie because it always bubbles over. Thanks for the chance to win a new range!
My favorite recipe thats makes a mess in my oven is usually lasagna for sure, I guess I put to much sauce, but my husband likes alot of sauce.
(smjohns63 at yahoo dot com)
Tweeted about your fabulous giveaway! https://twitter.com/janewindham/status/337380479961559040
Oh my… something that leaves my oven messy is my husbands favorite thing in the world… hamburgers! I use a broiler pan to cook them in the oven… but they still manage to get grease everywhere. I have the oven that came with my house, which will be 11 years next month. (I know that isn’t to old but it is about dead) and of course it isn’t self cleaning.
My husband makes an awesome 4 cheese pizza that leaves our oven a complete mess.
Awesome giveaway!
When I make lasagna my oven ends up a mess!
Lasagna. I always forget to put a baking sheet under the pan and
Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers. Very Messy! And wow, what a fabulous giveaway!
Tweeted this great opportunity too!
https://twitter.com/Thebeasknees/status/337397542557990912
my homemade cherry pie when it bubbles over — but so worth the mess!
Thanks for doing this great giveaway!
And thanks for sharing the great recipe, too
Ziti is a personal favorite, thanks for the recipe! My oven however, not a personal favorite! Would be beyond fantastic! Thanks much!
My cherry pie always bubbles over leaving a burnt puddle behind, but it is so delicious!
My favorite recipe that leaves my oven messy is my pasta bake or pizza!
My scrumdidlyumptious tuna bake casserole can be a tad messy. And I won’t even mention the time I made cheese fries on a plastic plate (hey I was sixteen) which then proceeded tomelt all over the oven :/…
Those Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers sound so good
Great giveaway, would love a new oven! Pies always bubble over for me when baking.
That baked Ziti looks amazing! My favourite is Peanut Butter Pie… but it always overflows… Sounds like It would be a quick clean up with that fantastic oven! 😉
My favorite recipe that leaves my oven messy is my homemade lasagna. It is always so much better when it gets all bubbly!
Apple pie — every time!
Berry pies are always death to my oven. Just moved into our new home and would LOVE a double oven! Thanks for the opportunity.
Great giveaway! That would have to be anything with baked APPLES!!!! They drip, drizzle, squirt everywhere.
YUM – filet mignon wrapped with bacon. I have to lay them on the rack so they less a mess on the bottom even when I place a pan to collect the dripping.
Woo hoo! A new oven for a lucky someone. . .maybe me?
Pies makes the oven messy and this would make cleanup easier
Every time we make homemade Hawaiian BBQ pizza, it always makes a big mess.
I tweeted about the giveaway. https://twitter.com/anzhie_luv/status/337670800280805376
Apple cobblers always make a mess in my oven! Thanks for the giveaway. The ziti looks fabulous.
roast chicken, you cook it at 450 so it splatters like crazy but the skin is so crispy and delicious
Are you supposed to clean the oven?
Oops!
Lasagna
Love your blog, new to me, your recipe sounds great too, I too like to create, but skip the cleaning. My messy baking is usually fruit pie (peach)
Sweet potatoes! Love them plain, baked, and scooped out of the shell!
Lasagna leaves my oven messy!!!
It never fails that my berry or peach cobblers always overflow and drip down the sides of the baking dish, making
the worst sticky messes in my oven.
jslbrown_03 at yahoo dot com
tweet – https://twitter.com/LuLu_Brown24/status/338345516125540352
jslbrown_03 at yahoo dot com
I’m not sure what it’s called but I make a recipe with apples, sweet potatoes, cinnamon, and butter that is very messy.
Tweet link: https://twitter.com/shala_darkstone/status/338362382394994688
Cherry pie is delish but sure makes a mess!
I love to make roast chicken with herbs, and it splatters grease all over the inside of the oven.
tweet
https://twitter.com/amylou61/status/338437321873584128
Whenever I make my husband homemade pot-pies, they always over flow onto the bottom of my oven. Always makes a mess. 🙂
Lamb chops under the broiler, they splatter grease and smoke up the kitchen to the point the smoke alarm goes off.
I tweeted here: https://twitter.com/SuzOH/status/338485831285235712
I sure could use that oven – mine is 18 years old and has not been cleaned lately either!
My lasagna makes such a mess and it takes 4 hours to clean! I would love a double oven so I could have things done at the same time. HOPE I WIN.
BBQ Ribs! Splatter city!
My delicious apple crisp always manages to slowly spread sweet sugary sucrose secretly surrounding the surface element 🙂 A self-cleaning oven with accurate temperature settings, functioning light inside, and all working elements would be a miraculous replacement for my 20-year-old oven!!
I always thought that “self-cleaning oven” should mean that it took care of everything–including remembering to clean it before you need to use it again….my oven mess is usually from apple strudel–it always leaks and drips off the cookie sheet onto the oven floor.
Favorite recipe that leaves my oven messy….has got to be my apple pie…I always overfill the crust and it boils over, but it is so yummy
Baked Ziti is my sons favorite. I can’t wait to try this low fat version! Thanks Kelly!
With the kids helping to cook, it seems ALL my recipes leave the oven messy. But the exploding-baked-potato incident stands out in my mind, I must admit.
Kelly, I’ve never cleaned my oven either. Well, it’s been cleaned once when I was still working outside the home and had a cleaning lady. But that was a long time ago and the oven has since been oozed, drizzled and dripped on many times.
Definitely lasagna. I can never stop myself from filling it to the brim and then it just bubbles out. Oh yum!
It will be lasagna :).
https://twitter.com/kravcvad/status/339576117570699266
Definitely my Red Velvet Berry Cobbler! It always bubbles over and continues to burn onto the floor of the oven everytime I cook!!!
pizza
cherry pie
Chicken Pot Pie
Lasagna, I’ve got to learn to stop with the layers sooner.
One of my favorite recipes is my grandmothers mashed potato casserole. It’s not something you eat all the time or anything- it’s one of those special dishes for occasions. Not only is it delicious- it’s the memories of her making that dish.
Tweeted ~
https://twitter.com/FrnchCntryCttge/status/340095503607951360
Thanks for the chance to win!! 🙂
My favorite recipe that leaves the oven a mess would have to be roasted chicken
the messiest recipe I make in my oven is homemade lasagna.
My favorite recipe that leaves my oven messy is my homemade apple pie! The filling always oozes out while baking it. 🙂
I tweeted it!
https://twitter.com/Caslani/status/340154903794159616
My husband LOVES pizza, but homemade pizza makes such a mess with the cheese!!
My cherry cobbler. Every. single. time. I have tried putting those drip pans in the bottom but then they get icky and I throw them away and don’t replace them. Thanks goodness I have a self-clean, I just need someone to remind me to set the self-cleaner. 🙂 Awesome giveaway.
Custard batter is hard to get into the oven without sloshing……
Favorite messy recipe – Chicken Enchiladas!!
I tweeted : https://www.twitter.com/MMCD1120/status/340172241113329666
I always manage to drop cookie dough in the oven. I hate it when something drips in the oven but I don’t catch it and the next time it burns.
Mac and cheese it always bubbles over!
what an awesome giveaway! I can’t wait to try the ziti recipe!!!
I tend to overfill my cake pans so I can level them to get a perfect two inch layer, but sometimes they run over nto the oven.
This looks so yummy! Pinning! Love seeing what you cook!!!
I love roasting vegetables but the olive oil spatters and leaves my oven a mess!
Absolutely LOVE pie….any kind will do for me….but the mess it leaves in my oven, curbs that sweet tooth! 🙁
Pies! My pies almost always bubble over!
My homemade pumpkin pie always bubble over and every time I say I’m going to lay foil underneath and always forget.
Worst thing for me to clean up after is homemade pizza and oven fries. Cheese and olive oil. I saw this stove today while appliance browsing and was lusting over BOTH beauty and functionality of this range. Ahhh!!!
My messiest recipe would have to be apple dumplings…ooey sticky goodness.
My oven turns messy when I grill a flat laying chicken with veggies around it and some of the veggies burn and the juices get stuck to the tray and scrubbing them off is always a challenge!
tweeted
https://twitter.com/Bless_Eliz/status/340965161521254400
I have gas and it’s so messy when I do hamburgers or meatloaf.
Oh my great recipe!!! Home made Mac and cheese bubbling over and cooking Lasagna is also a tuff one!
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SweepstakesEntry&src=hash
When I make my pumpkin bread, even if I skimp on the ingredients, it always explodes or overflows in the oven! Stinky, stinky oven.
I love making my baked spaghetti, but sometimes will over flow and then what s mess.
Chicken Pot Pie measurements are never exactly right and it definitely overflows sometimes!
My grandma’s apple pie recipe is delicious, but messy whenever I make it!
Bbq chicken and ribs
love your recipe and I hate to clean stubborn stained in the cheap oven. Love to win it
Big old pile of nachos.
Any fresh fruit pie seems to destroy my oven…no matter what I do to try to prevent drips!
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 04/06
my bbq pulled pork
oooh – so many but my grandmother’s capirotada and enchiladas! yummy!
tvollowitz at aol dot com
When I cook my bacon in the oven. It’s always a huge mess and a disaster to clean up.
https://twitter.com/tunger23/status/342283864321961985
No matter how hard I try, Lasagna gets everywhere
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 05/06
Pizza
The recipe that leaves my oven messy is my enchiladas! I stuff the baking dishes full and use lots of cheese and sauce which, even if I cover them, tends to bubble and slosh over the edge when I pull them out 🙂
Tweeted – https://twitter.com/Enter_Now/status/342546353383145472
Chicken pot pies always seem to eek out and make a mess in my oven.
onefrugalgirl AT gmail DOT com
https://twitter.com/OneFrugalGirl/status/342622813238206464
onefrugalgirl AT gmail DOT com
It’s hard to beat a good old gooey apple pie, piled so high it HAS to overflow in the oven. 😉
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 06/06
My apple pies always boil over. Ribs also splatter all over the oven.
Berry pies are such a mess, the smell of burning sugar (always!)
I posted a tweet that leads back to your blog post too:
https://twitter.com/AnnaZed/status/343878912163594240
Cheese enchiladas, my family loves them but the cheese and sauce splatters all over the oven making a big mess for me to clean up.
My wonderful lasagna leaves my oven a total mess! It’s worth or maybe I need a bigger pan.
caramel apple pie is always messy to make BRICH22 AT EARTHLINK DOT NET
https://twitter.com/rrich2222/status/344060703705034752
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 10/06
cherry pie
https://twitter.com/sweetums82/status/344442325537275904
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 11/06
Berry pies always bubbling and popping
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 12/06
I have a few questions about this recipe… First off, in the directions for the ziti part (numbers 11, 14-15, and 17) exactly WHICH sauce are you talking about? The tomato sauce that you buy in cans or the tomato sauce that you’ve included in this recipe for the baked ziti? Is this the 4 cups of sauce that we need for the baked ziti part? And second, when exactly do you pour in the pasta? Because in number 16 you only mention pasta mixture.
Sorry for the misunderstanding Mimi! I’ve tweaked the recipe. You can either make the sauce in the recipe or use jarred sauce – your choice – 4 cups. I’ve adjusted the recipe for cooking the ziti and when to add it into the recipe – cheers!
Wow, did not think I was going to get that fast of a reply especially with all these comments. Thank you so much!!
chicken pot pies, twitted this tdoay, 13/06
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 14/06
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 15/06
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 16/06
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 17/06
My husband having to cook pizza directly on the rack…need I say more! Wow, what dream this oven would be compared to my current cute little 1956 wall oven!
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 18/06
Anything I cook seems to make a huge mess – so my husband would be so happy if we had an easy clean double oven! We could make ribs and pies, or turkey and pies, or just about anything and pies!
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 19/06
Strawberry rhubarb pie
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 21/06
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 23/06
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 24/06
Lasagna…yummmm!!
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 25/06
Well, I immediately thought of my favorite dessert — Derby Pie. Somehow it always seems to run over, no matter how much I put in the pie pan. Thanks to this blog and links to blogs with recipes of messy meals, I want to try the Low Fat Best Baked Ziti recipe on this page and the Sunday morning candy bacon on Jennifer Rizzo’s page. I can’t wait to try them in a self-cleaning oven. To date, I am the “self” in the “self-cleaning oven” at my house.
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 26/06
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 27/06
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 28/06
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 29/06
http://www.twitter.com/myspotme
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 30/06
Great giveaway Kelly! I really need that new oven – starting my kitchen remodel!!! The thing that always makes a mess in my oven – bubbled over apple pie!
Tweeted here: https://twitter.com/HymnsandVerse/status/351491010125238275
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 01/07
I make an enchilada casserole that always seems to make a mess.
https://twitter.com/tall_person13/status/352162874883444737 tweet
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 02/07
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 03/07
My favorite recipe that leaves my oven messy is the meatball red sauce pasta bake. Your low fat baked ziti looks scrumptious too. Can’t wait to try.
amy [at] utyr [dot] it
Note: email should be amy [at] utry [dot] it
tweeted
https://twitter.com/uTry_it/status/352704616162533376
amy [at] utry [dot] it
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 04/07
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 05/07
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 06/07
I love to broil meats in my oven and it leaves a terrible mess!
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 07/07
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 08/07
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 09/07
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 10/07
Looks yummy!
My lasagna recipe ALWAYS leaves a mess on my counters, oven, kids and the pan too!
Link to tweet:
https://twitter.com/catholicfanatic/status/355134960920834048
The double oven is such a great idea! And I love anything that is easy clean!
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 11/07
I seem to leave remnants of all my baking on the bottom of my oven (which is self cleaning but I haven’t tested that feature for 5 years) I think the worst is apple pie with the delicious filling oozing out and making an awful mess. Would love to have an LG double oven!
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 12/07
Lasagna by far.
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 13/07
my husbands homemade loaded pasta dish always leaves the stove an unreal mess. Thanks for the chance to win.
https://twitter.com/eaglesforjack/status/356226627811811331
my baked mac’n cheese is usually very messy!
https://twitter.com/rsmc1/status/356281637195091969
Since I’m realtively new to the baking scene, I haven’t had much in the way of mishaps, but I can tell you that making ice cream cupcakes can get really messy when they tip over!
My homemade vegetarian lasagna
https://twitter.com/disneyfan40/status/356527984640917505
Scalloped potatoes are the worst.
I love to make mostaccioli but it leaves a nasty mess every single time.
Tweet – https://twitter.com/mom2boys51/status/356618376338087936
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 14/07
it’s Lasagna 🙂
Lasagna Bolognese.
Baked pork chops leaves a big mess.
Definitely when I make cherry or apple pies! What a mess!
i like to make a breakfast casserole in our oven and it is super messy
Lasagna always makes my oven messy.
Tweet – https://twitter.com/willitara/status/356804200107229184
Cherry pie always seems to bubble over and make a mess, but I’m going to make it this week anyway.
Zucchini Lasagna is my favorite recipe to mess my oven up.
chicken pot pies, twitted this today, 15/07