Baked Ziti

I started with this recipe.  I substituted spicy turkey sausage for the ground beef, and added about half a bulb of fresh chopped garlic, on the theory that garlic is never bad.  I started mixing everything into the pan, and realized that there was just no way I could mix in a full pound of shredded cheddar cheese, plus top with a mixture of cheddar and Parmesan.  So, I mixed in about 3/4 of a pound of cheddar, and topped with straight Parmesan.  The result was plenty tasty, but the top layer of cheese never really melted propely, probably because Parmesan is such a dry cheese.  Maybe mozzarella would be a better choice?

A couple of equipment notes:

1. I am in the process of calibrating my oven.  I bought an oven thermometer, and set my oven to 320 to start tonight (the recipe called for 350).  The temp shot all the way up to 400, so I opened the door for a few minutes, and turned the temp down to 300, figurin it to be about 50 degrees off.  Periodically during the baking process. I looked at the thermometer, and adjusted the temp as needed.  I figured this would be reasonably safe with this partiucular dish, since the turkey suasage was already thoroughly browned before adding it, and nothing else carried a particularly high risk of contamination.  I had no trouble with the ziti not being hot enough (I checked it with a meat thermometer as soon as I pulled it out), but the readings I got during the process kept tracking exactly with the set temperature.  So, has anyone ever heard of an oven that heats up to higher than the set temp at first?  This would make sense to me, as it would help account for the initial opening of the door, but it seems a little sophistacated for most ovens.
2. When grating a lot of cheese, a food processor is a must-have.  Thanks, Mom and Dad!  It took us a long time to get to using it, but I am officially declaring it indispensable.

So, anyone have any good recipes for grated cheddar?  I'm thinking nachos...