Baked Veggie Ziti

Italian food is by far my favorite of the foods genres.  This week I was loving some superb pasta dishes.  I should have been born in Italy.  But, since I wasn't I just try to cook Italian food as much as possible. Here is my awesome (and healthy-ish) baked ziti recipe.

Ingredients

12oz uncooked ziti pasta (or other pasta-i.e. I used rotini because it is what I had on hand) 

Amount of tomato and zucchini needed. 

3/4cup low fat ricotta 

3/4cup of cheese (preferably mozzarella) 

2tbs nutritional yeast (adjust if not using cheese) 

1/2 large zucchini

1/2 large tomato

1cup unsalted tomato sauce 

2 gloves of garlic (chopped finely) 

How the mixture should appear. 

Salt- to taste

Pepper- to taste

Onion Powder- to taste

Oregano- to taste 

Olive Oil- enough to sauté veggies 

Viola! The finished product. 

Directions: Preheat oven to 400F.  In a medium pan, boil pasta until it is almost al dente(do NOT overcook).  Then, drain pasta and rinse with cold water, set aside.  Fill the bottom of a small skillet with some olive oil.  Sauté veggies and garlic until lightly browned.  While doing this stir ricotta, mozzarella, tomato sauce, spices, and nutritional yeast together in a bowl.  Pour cheese mixture into a the original pasta pan and warm on low for 3-4 minutes.  Add small amount of unsweetened non-dairy milk to sauce mixture if it is not the desired creaminess.  Put pasta and cheese mixture into a baking dish and top with a little fresh parmesan (optional).  Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Serve warm!

**Awesome lunch leftovers!!

What is your favorite food genre?