Baked Ziti with Veggies

LaSirena29

Baked ziti is one of my favorites. I played with my favorite recipe, cutting the pasta in half & adding lots of veggies to fill in for the pasta. I weight most everything, so I've listed the grams of veggies I used to figure the calories. I like my zucchini chopped chunky, but you could grate it and you would never know it's there. I frequently assemble this ahead and refrigerate it overnight. I let it stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes then bake.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion (160 g)
1 cup chopped green pepper (140 g)
1 cup chopped red pepper (170 g)
1 cup chopped mushrooms (I used cremini, 160 g)
2 cups chopped zucchini, or 1 cup grated (300 g)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 (14.5oz) can diced tomatoes (no salt added)
1 (8oz) can tomato sauce (no salt added)
1 (10oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed & drained
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
3 cups hot cooked ziti (I used Barilla Plus, 6oz dry)
1/4 cup grated mozzarella
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 375.

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion and peppers. Saute about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, zucchini and garlic. Saute another 5 minutes. Stir in basil, salt, black pepper, tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Stir in spinach, half the ricotta and the pasta. Spoon into a 13"x 9" baking dish coated with cooking spray. Dollop the remaining ricotta on top. Sprinkle on mozzarella cheese.

Cover and bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake for an additional 5 minutes or until a light brown.



Serves 8 (you can increase the portion sizes to only serve 6 & its about 300 calories a serving)

Calories 229
Fat 8g
Protein 12g
Carbohydrates 29g
Fiber 5g
Sodium 223mg

malmustafa79

Sounds Yum bump!

delilah514

yummy! I want to make this.

sgk0411

yum