Baked Ziti and Oreo Cake

Oh my! We had the most fabuloso Sunday dinner. First of all may I start off with I'm a great recipe follower. I don't really make up my own original recipes. I follow them by the letter at first and if they are a keeper, they eventually get enough tweaks to then become my own. So I love sites like Pinterest and I definitely have my favorite shows on Food Network.
I love Sunday dinner. It is just all about the good things in life....family....good food....and of course, a wonderfully delicious dessert. So this past Sunday I invited over the normal crew, which consists of my mom and dad, grandma, and brother and his girlfriend. I made baked ziti. I watched an irresistible episode of Pioneer Woman and had to make it! The baked ziti is pretty simple and pretty fabulous. And if you are a on-a-budget girl like me it is pretty affordable. You can find the original recipe here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/11/baked-ziti/. May I say that I have made this twice and I have not made any changes! It is fabulous and feeds a crowd. I will also attest to the fact of grating your own cheese. A bit of a pain, but well worth it in the end.

I served this with a Caesar salad. If you need a dressing recommendation I highly suggest Ken's creamy Caesar or Newman's Caesar - you really can't go wrong. Add some good croutons and shredded Parmesan cheese and you are set. I also grabbed a French loaf of bread and mixed up a stick of butter with some garlic salt and kosher salt. I then cut the bread in half slathered the butter on and wrapped it in aluminum foil. I did this on Thursday, so I froze the bread until Saturday. I took it out and put it in the fridge to make sure it was ready to go for Sunday dinner.
And for dessert! I have been dying to make this cake: Fudgy Cookies and Cream Cake (how can you go wrong). I've seen it on Pinterest for a while and it just looks delicious. I got the original recipe from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen. You can find it here: http://www.confessionsofacookbookqueen.com/2013/07/fudgy-cookies-and-cream-cake/. Okay....so mine tasted pretty darn good, however it didn't quite measure up to the original picture (I tried...I really tried). Here is the original and mine:

Original Beautiful Picture

 

...and my version



So mine wasn't quite as pretty, however it was pretty darn good. This cake was easy and fun to make. I would definitely recommend making it to any aspiring baker.
This Sunday dinner was a success!