Food Fridays on Empty Streets: Baked Ziti

After revealing that I love to cook for 50 people :) , I have decided to teach all of you a recipe that never fails to satisfy a hungry group of friends and is easy to prepare with my favorite cooking seasoning and ingredient from McCormick. Before getting into the recipe I have to say that McCormick has a lot of excellent quick recipes available also on their websites that are so easy to follow so after trying this dish out do pay them a visit.

Baked Ziti (Meatless)

INGREDIENTS

• Italian Tomato Sauce
• 1 package (16 ounces) ziti
• 1 container (15 ounces) ricotta cheese
• 1 package (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese (2 cups)
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons McCormick® Italian Seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Black Pepper, Ground
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare Italian Tomato Sauce. Cook pasta as directed on package. Drain and return to saucepot.
2. Gently stir in 1 1/2 cups of the tomato sauce, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, egg, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper until well mixed. Spoon into 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with no stick cooking spray. Top with additional 1 1/2 cups of the pasta sauce and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil.
3. Bake 30 minutes or until heated through. Serve with remaining 3 cups tomato sauce or freeze sauce for later use.

Here's a Video Tutorial for Baked Ziti

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Empty Streets Special: Empty Streets Transformation

Hi Guys, If you have been frequently visiting the site you would have noticed a lot of changes. I decided that for the start of the New Year it was time to streamline the design and even revise the Header Name to something more strategic. For those who are new the former name of Empty Streets 1027 was Empty Streets: It's a way of life. I decided to drop the long name and place in the birthday of Empty Streets. This has given the site top rank for the key word Empty Streets 1027 in Google. :)

Aside from that I have also added an interactive Anime Widget that allows Anime fans like myself to watch our favorite Anime Manga Cartoons live or on Demand. The coolest thing about this is that it can also be played full screen for your full enjoyment.

There will be a lot more things coming up as Empty Streets 1027 progresses and with the new Page Rank of 4 only means that we have just gotten started. If you have any suggestions in terms of articles or topics that you like us to cover and feature here just simply leave us a note.

Aside from Empty Streets 1027, I have also launched a couple of months ago Marketing 411 where we share all of the things that we have learned in terms of Marketing and thus increasing Moneytary benefits one could gain in a blog.

I also have a personal blog "Metz's Secret Garden" where I mostly talk about things that go through my head or my day. It is a place where I get to unwind and release all of my pent up emotions or share to those that would be interested. I guess that site is where you find the deep part of me.

Lastly a site that is still in its infancy though rather old since am still figuring out where it should be heading and what it should look like is Call Center Life. This is where I share the things that I have experienced and learned from my years working for the BPO industry and hopefully get to share and help those that are aspiring to get into this type of corporate setting.

With all that happening I do hope that you find a topic that is of interest for you and keep you coming back for more. Empty Streets isn't really so empty when you guys are around and we love it when you find that this place is a place that you can find a piece of you as well. So as we like to say Come and Walk the Empty Streets with us - we welcome you from the heart.

Here's Empty Streets from DJ Tiesto - Let's get the Party started :)

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Travel Thursdays on Empty Streets: Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

If there is one place that I would love to come back and visit in a heart beat it would be Kota Kinabalu of Malaysia. I got to know about this wonderful place through a friend that I had been going with to the different beaches of the Philippines and was mentioned to me because of my sudden desire to learn diving and where it would be the most fun to do so. Since we have been around a lot of places in the Philippines he recommended Malaysia and specifically Kota Kinabalu. What surprised me the most was that it was a lot cheaper to go to Kota Kinabalu from the Philippines than it was for a local flight to Boracay. We took the Tiger Airways from Manila(Clark) to Kota Kinabalu and amazingly it only cost less than $110 for a two way ticket. We also researched on places to stay and found out that there are many choices to choose from once we hit the destination, ranging from the rather luxurious to that for the budget conscious.

Upon arriving at Kota Kinabalu I had to say i fell in love with the place. The people were like people here in the Philippines but the surrounding area was prestine. When I finally got to the beach it was crystal clear waters. Snorkling was first on my agenda when I arrived and the beauty of the fish and corals were all so well preserved. You can Imagine how Scuba Diving was like by the time we got around to doing so.

Overall, if you happen to be within the area try and check out what this place has to offer. If you are on a business trip take time over the weekend to experience this refreshing place. Believe me you wont regret it. The place in itself reminded me of the movie by Leonardo DiCaprio "The Beach".

Here is a video of what you can expect to see in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia with the Hotel me and my friend stayed in.