Baked Ziti with Sage Sausage

I know a lot of you would not necessarily consider baked ziti a casserole, but this is how I look at it: A casserole is usually some sort of meat (sausage), a grain of some sort (ziti), sauce/veggie (tomato sauce), and cheese (mozzarella and ricotta).  Let us just say it is Italian casserole hehe!  

Baked Ziti with Sage Sausage
Yields 6 - 8 servings

To Prepare the Ziti
1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees! 
2. Open a one pound tube of sage flavored sausage.  You know the stuff...the breakfast sausage that you cut and fry!  Brown the sausage in a frying pan, and break it up a with a spatula.  It will break down more and more as it cooks!

3. Bring a pot of water to boil, and cook 1 pound of ziti.  Don't cook it all the way, but just a little bit past the al dente state!
4. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and leave it in the sieve.
5. Using the empty pot you cooked the pasta in, mix together approximately 25 ounces of pasta sauce, 1 pound of shredded mozzarella cheese (hold back some of the mozzarella to top the casserole), 1 pound of riccotta cheese, and 2 large eggs.

6. Once all of these ingredients are mixed, add the pasta and sausage in!
7. Pour the mixture into a glass casserole dish and top with the mozzarella you left out of the sauce. I sprinkled a little dash of parsley flake on top of the cheese, but you could also top it with a basil leaf, some fresh oregano, or some fresh parsley if you want to!

8. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until the cheese on top has melted and is just starting to brown!