Veggie Pasta Bake (serves 4)

I should call this Costco Veggie Pasta becasue every single ingredient I buy at Costco This is my new go to pasta dish that my family loves and I get more veggies in them. This is a great base recipe that you can add any veggie to (I would love to use portobella mushrooms, accept 75% of my family of 4 hates mushrooms) or change it up to fit your macros. It receives rave reviews from my family - my 5 year old only eats 1/4 - 1/3 of a portion, so everyone is fighting over the leftovers for lunch the next day. The key is they think they are overindulging in pasta (when it is the veggies that really bulks it up). Made it up last night and it is in the fridge to be thrown in the oven by my daughter after school. Next time I think I will prep 2 pans and throw one in the freezer.

This recipe serves 4 generous portions (and the nutritional content is based on that) but you could get a r nice size serving 8 with a side salad.

- 300 grams each of carrots, celery, bell peppers (any color - I use a variety) - chopped into small bitesize pieces
- up to 2 cups Vegetable Broth (I use Pacific Natural Foods - Organic Low Sodium Vegeable broth at 15 cals per cup)
- 4 servings (224 grams total) - your choice of pasta (I use Garofalo Dry Pasta - variety pack from Costco - (56 gram dry/serving) - I use regular pasta in this as a "treat" as I whole/ancient grain them to death otherwise
- 1 - 645 ml jar Newmans Own Pasta Sauce (I use Sockarooni (Peppers, Spices & the Whole Shebang)
- 120 grams shredded mozza cheese (100 cals/30 grams) - I don't use reduced fat
- 4 tablespoons kraft parm cheese (25 cals/tbsp) - I don't use reduced fat
- Spices (I use garlic powder; itallian; a bit of sea salt on the veggies)

- Put celery and carrot in large saute pan; add 1 to 1.5 cups broth, season to taste. Cook on med-high heat for 5-10 mins. Add chopped peppers and more broth or water as needed. Cook until desired veggie "doneness" reached (I like cooked but slightly crunchy). Reduce broth so there is 1/4 to 1/3 cup broth remaining. Add jar of pasta sauce. Reduce heat and simmer to blend flavors.
- Prepare pasta in pot of boiling water (tip I use a large pot of water so the pasta has room to move and I don't need to add oil to the water). Cook to al dante as you will be baking this for 20 mins. Drain Water
- Once pasta is done add sauce to pasta and stir to combine.
- Transfer to a 9 x 13 pan (I never grease the pan) - make sure to mix it in the pan to have an even distribution of pasta and veggies.
- Evenly sprinkle 120 grams of mozza cheese over top
- cover with tinfoil and baked in a 350 oven for 15-20 mins. Remove tinfoil and continue baking until cheese is melted and starting to brown (I broil it sometimes for 30 seconds)
- Once done, let stand 5 mins.
- Cut and serve with 1 tbsp of kraft parm, if desired.

I use full fat mozza cheese and parm. This recipe serves 4 generous portions (and the nutritional content is based on that) but you would get a really nice size serving 8 with a side salad.

Per serving (1/4 of the dish) following above recipe: cals: 499, carbs: 74; fat: 14; protein: 20; sodium: 966