Thursday, April 17, 2008

Baked Ziti w/ Vegetables

I found this recipe the other day from CookingLight, featured on myrecipes.com. It's basically the same thing as the Vegetable Lasagna from the previous post, just different noodles--and probably a little quicker to make and healthier (without as much cheese). So, in other words, it's yummy.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup chopped red bell pepper (I just used the green pepper)
1 1/2 cups chopped portobello, cremini, or button mushrooms
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can stewed tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
7 cups torn spinach (about 1/2 pound)
3 cups hot cooked ziti (about 2 1/4 cups uncooked short tube-shaped pasta)
Cooking spray
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and bell peppers, and sauté 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Stir in basil, salt, black pepper, tomatoes, and tomato sauce, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes or until slightly thick. Stir in spinach; cook 1 minute or until spinach wilts. Stir in pasta. Spoon into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Dollop with ricotta.

Cover and bake at 375° for 20 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until lightly browned.

Note: To make ahead, assemble casserole as directed. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Let stand 30 minutes at room temperature, and bake as directed.

1 comment:

Robyn said...

This is alot more healthy than Giada's version I saw on Everyday Italian today. She had 2 cups of cheese mixed in with the veggies, added parmesan and actually dotted the top with butter and more cheese. Of course it would be good but my heart hurt just looking at it! I want to try this version. Thanks