Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Make It Your Own Baked Penne

Looking for an easy peasy, yummy cheesy recipe? You've found it.

The best part? It was made healthier than a traditional baked pasta dish by using reduced fat cheese and whole wheat pasta.

Make It Your Own Baked Penne

1 pound of penne pasta (use whole wheat if possible)
1 (26-32 oz) jar of pasta sauce -OR- 3-4 cups Sweet Pea Pasta Sauce
1 15oz can petite diced tomatoes
1 1/2 c of any vegetable you choose**
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t ground oregano
1 16 oz container of fat free ricotta cheese
1/2 c grated parmesan
8 0z package 2% milk Italian shredded cheese

Cook the penne according to the package instructions, omitting fat and salt.

While the penne is cooking, heat the pasta sauce, diced tomatoes, your choice of vegetable**, garlic and oregano over medium low heat in a sauce pan. Stir to combine.Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Drain the penne and mix with the pasta sauce mixture. Place half in the bottom of a 9x13 oven safe pan. Spread the ricotta on top, and then sprinkle the parmesan cheese and half of the shredded cheese on top. Top with remaining pasta sauce and penne, followed by remaining shredded cheese.Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the top looks like this:

**use whatever vegetables you wish--I used 1 c roasted eggplant and some chopped spinach...but you can use olives, chopped mushrooms, cooked broccoli, zucchini, peppers, artichoke hearts, etc. -OR- alternatively, you could use ground meat of some type

We loved this recipe, I hope you do too!

Oh, and I will post the other recipes within the next week too...
SPC

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you! This will be Sunday dinner this week - and great for our Monday leftovers. This is also a great dish that will come in handy when cooking for neighbors with new babies, etc.

Slacker Mama said...

Looks delicous!

Live.Love.Eat said...

This looks really great & I love the bowl it's in.

Amer21 said...

SPC-I'm going to give it a try along with your Golden Chili you posted last week. I'm looking forward to trying some new recipes!! Going to the UVA game tomorrow with Evan and Matt. Should be fun!

Sweet Pea Chef said...

Have fun at the game Amy! How's the pregnancy going??

Go Hoos!

The Mrs. said...

That is too easy!!! I am making that next week!

Anonymous said...

Hi SPC,

If you and your readers are looking for healthy, budget-friendly meals, I would love you to try the Pennywise Potato-Turkey Wraps recipe found on www.MomsDinnerHelper.com.

Not only does this recipe represent all of the sections of the food pyramid, but it also only costs about $1.84 per serving!

Please let me know if you'd like any hi-res images or information about this tasty recipe!

Thanks,
Ashley
ashley.paul@fleishman.com

whitneyingram said...

Just finished making this. I actually took half of the recipe and put it together in a foil pan to freeze for a dinner later. Have you ever done that? Cooking directions tip?