Recently I had some zucchini and some tomatoes that needed used up. A year or two ago I pureed a huge squash of some kind and hid it in a lasagna, so I thought I'd try that method again. But I only had half a pkg of cook-first lasagna noodles and half a pkg of no-cook lasagna noodles so I couldn't do that. As I stared at my pantry wondering how to make this work, I remembered that I'd seen a recipe for a similar concept in a cookbook before!
This recipe is based off the Pampered Chef Pronto Pasta Bake and is listed below. But what I did this night is listed first.
I started by pureeing the zucchini, and the tomatoes, using my stick blender!
I mixed oregano, basil, thyme, sage, onion powder, minced garlic and a bit of brown sugar into the tomatoes, along with a can of tomato paste to make it thicker. (fresh tomatoes are very, very juicy, and somewhat watery!) Then I mixed the zucchini in with it to hide it well, haha! I cooked up some bowtie pasta and created my own layered pasta dish: pasta, sauce mix, cheese, pasta, sauce mix, cheese.
and, since no one knew I used fresh tomatoes and zucchini in their dinner, I added carrot sticks on the side, for a very healthy dinner!
Pronto Pasta Bake:
12 oz rotini pasta
2 medium zucchinis, chopped
2 garlic cloves
1 48 oz jar spaghetti sauce
1 tsp dried basil leaves
2 oz fresh parmesan, grated
2 cups shredded mozarella cheese
Preheat oven to 375*. Cook pasta & drain. Mix zucchini, garlic, spaghetti sauce and basil. In 9x13 pan, layer 1/3 of the sauce mixture, half of the pasta, 1/3 of the sauce, and half of each of the cheeses. Repeat. Cover with foil and bake 45 mins. Uncover and bake additional 5 minutes.
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