one for all and all for cake: Baked Ziti-di-doo-dah

So in the hunt for dinner tonight, I realized I had all the essential ingredients to make something that I normally don't make: baked ziti. Why is it that I usually don't make this delicious dish? Well, mainly because I'm lactose intolerant (I like to refer to myself as a lactard) and this dish involves a whole lot of dairy in the form of cheese. My solution this time you may wonder? Umm... I didn't really have a good solution, so I'm taking the side effects as they come because there really isn't any good substitution for cheese.

Don't get me wrong, I'm actually a really good lactard and tend to stay away from dairy 97% of the time. My 3% vices tend to be pizza (cuz of the cheese), ice cream (sorry, soy ice cream doesn't cut it here) and half-and-half (gotta have my starbucks coffee). So what made me go out and buy cheese (shredded mozzarella to be exact) from the grocery store? Well, the BF's mom (mom-in-law for lack of a better title) suggested making potatoes au gratin using the new japanese mandolin I recently bought on sale at Kohls. But potatoes seemed too starchy and even the thought of all that cream and cheese made my stomach revolt in the most unpleasant way. An excavation of my pantry brought up dried pasta (mini pene), tomato sauce (roasted garlic and onions version), onions and garlic. Perfect! But wait, what about the meat? Another excavation, this time through the freezer, manifested a log of breakfast sausage which BF has not had time to touch (he's a lover of breakfast goods, but has been too busy switching jobs to actually cook said meal). Commence good eating!