Friday, April 13, 2012

Healthy, Cheesy Veggie Baked Penne


It's true that this dish may not photograph well, but definitely don't judge a book by it's-hastily photographed, in a hurry to eat-cover.

I jam packed this pasta with 2 sheet pans of veggies.  I kid you not.

It's deliciousness is threefold.  1-pasta, no words needed.  Pasta is where it's at.  2-cheese.  Come on, you know cheese makes everything better.  And 3-a gazillion servings of veggies.  Necessary for a healthy lifestyle, but can be made to be more delicious by roasting and combining with pasta and cheese.

I actually like veggies on their own, but if you know someone who doesn't this dish may convert them.

Healthy, Cheesy Veggie Baked Penne
serves 8 

1 bunch of asparagus
container of mushrooms
2 medium zucchini
2 medium yellow squash
2 handfuls fresh spinach
15 oz box of whole wheat penne
1 8 oz container of part skim ricotta
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 cup part skim shredded mozzarella
spray oil
salt
garlic salt
olive oil

Wash and cut asparagus, mushrooms, zucchini and squash.  Toss in olive oil, season with salt and garlic salt and roast at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Boil your pasta until al dente and drain.
Toss your cooked veggies in a bowl, add in the ricotta and parmesan.  Put the spinach on the top of the heap and pour in the hot pasta.  Mix it all together and season with salt.
Pour into a greased 9x13 dish and top with mozzarella.
Bake for 20 minutes covered loosely with aluminum foil and for 6-7 minutes uncovered.

Forgive my dirty looking fork.  It's dirty with this pasta, only, I assure you.

Oh, on a completely unrelated note, I wanted to talk for a second about comments.  I love comments on the blog!  Whenever I see a comment, I'm like, "I love that person; they are the greatest."  But for some reason I'm unable to respond.  I don't know why, but in certain blogger formats, my comments don't post.  It's kind of frustrating, but I will figure it out.  Please don't let that discourage you from commenting or you can always email me at myrtle918_at_yahoo_dot_com or give me a comment on Facebook.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

1 comment:

Kelley @ TheGrantLife.com said...

I dont know what your talking about.. this looks delish! I can tell that its delish because of the cheesy and pasta and veggy goodness. Oh my! I want it :)

Ps.. make sure you link this up to my Friday party if you havent already :)