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Recipe | Vegetable Baked Ziti

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Vegetable Baked Ziti
This January marks the eighth year that I’ve been doing Weight Watchers. While my weight has fluctuated since reaching my goal and I’m now actively trying to lose weight again, I really feel like it was joining Weight Watchers that prompted me to learn how to cook and get creative in the kitchen. Because before Weight Watchers? Our meals were pretty much take out, stir fry or pasta.

Pasta showed up on the menu at least once a week. I’d make a whole box (!!!) and my husband and I would split it. He’d put lots of sauce on his, while I’d put a little bit of sauce and a mountain of grated Parmesan on mine. I was under the impression that a ginormous bowl of pasta was a typical serving–after all, that’s what most restaurants serve, right? It was a shock to find out that those big boxes of pasta that my husband and I were eating by ourselves are meant to serve eight people. Oops.

One of the first changes I made when I joined Weight Watchers was downsizing those pasta portions. But clearly, two ounces of pasta alone just wasn’t going to cut it. So I started adding vegetables to our pasta. Lots of them. This makes that paltry two ounces of pasta go much further. And you know what? It tastes so much better that way too. Using this same philosophy, I revamped my baked ziti recipe, something I occasionally made pre-Weight Watchers–my original version had massive amounts of cheese and pasta. This version, Vegetable Baked Ziti, has a smaller amount of reduced-fat cheese and fat-free ricotta mixed in to give the casserole a creamy texture. By adding lots of sauteed veggies, each serving contains less than two ounces of pasta. But it’s so good, you won’t miss that extra pasta or cheese at all!

Vegetable Baked Ziti

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes

Yield: 6

Vegetable Baked Ziti

Baked ziti doesn't have to be over-loaded with cheese to taste good! My recipe has a creamy sauce, thanks to the addition of fat-free ricotta, and lots of sauteed veggies.

Ingredients

  • cooking spray or oil mister
  • 1 tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 large zucchini, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
  • 8 oz. button or baby bella mushrooms, sliced
  • 8 oz. whole wheat pasta (penne and rotini work well), cooked al dente according to package
  • 1 large jar marinara sauce (about 24 ounces)
  • 1-15 oz. container of fat-free ricotta cheese
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 c. reduced-fat Italian blend cheese (or mozzarella)
  • 1 tbsp. chopped parsley (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray or oil mister.
  2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add zucchini and mushrooms and cook until softened and liquid has boiled off, about 7 minutes more. Remove from heat.
  3. Add pasta, marinara sauce, ricotta, salt, and pepper to skillet with vegetables. Stir until well combined.
  4. Pour pasta mixture into baking dish. Top with cheese. Bake for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley before serving, if desired.
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Comments

  1. That ranks high on the yummolicious chart! Bookmarking this one to try!

  2. BTW, I stumbled, pinned, liked, shared, +1′d, and tweeted.

  3. I love Weight Watchers. I learned so much during my time with them. I lost 30 pounds. I gained some back and today I have about 10 to lose, but like you, I just learned so much. I don’t deprive myself ever, but I’m very aware of what I eat and how much. I don’t know if you make your own sauce or buy a jar, but we love the Ragu Light Alfredo. We add in chicken and spinach which kind of end up balancing out the Alfredo.

    • I’ve learned so much from Weight Watchers too! Are you doing the plan now? I really like the new one and I’ve lost 8 pounds since I went from the online program (which I was good with for a loooong time, but slowly the weight started creeping back) to meetings. I love that fruit is 0 Points now!

      I haven’t tried that alfredo sauce–I love alfredo, but my husband does not! I bet that would be good in this ziti though. :)

  4. That looks absolutely fantastic! You’re right that 2 ounces of pasta on its own isn’t enough!

    • No, it’s not! I think that’s why people have trouble sticking to serving sizes–I end up bulking up every meal with fresh fruit and/or veggies because, like, 1/2 c. of rice or 2 oz. of pasta just isn’t filling.

  5. I’ve been taking a look at Weight Watchers lately. Since I started food blogging, I’ve definitely picked up way too much weight. Portion sizes are a huge problem for me…among other things. I love this Baked Ziti recipe. Thanks for sharing it with us.

    • I can’t say enough good things about Weight Watchers. The best thing about it is that it’s not restrictive–nothing is off-limits. I lost 100 pounds on WW back in 2004/5 and I’ve kept most of it off, and I had tried just about every diet before that.

  6. My hubby is a true Italian so although this looks amazing I think i’d have a hard time putting it past him, lol.

  7. this is perfect – I’m bookmarking it since I am back on WW. Thanks!

  8. This looks delicious, thanks for sharing. We are the same with pasta, my husband and kids take huge servings.

  9. My fall-back on busy nights is pasta. We do cook smaller quantities and add a lot of veggies. This looks great! I’m trying to do a lot more meatless meals, though I could never give up fish and pork.

  10. Love your idea of adding the veggies. Anything with pasta and cheese I love anyway.

  11. This looks great! Pasta and veggies has been becoming one of my favorite dinners lately- simple, nutritious, and so so good. Definitely about to repin this :)

  12. I was using pasta a lot as a cheap filler and an easy meal. This sounds like a healthier way to incorporate it into our weekly menu without making pasta the star of the dish.

    • Yup, I used to do the same thing. Pasta still is our go-to when we’re short on time (or ideas), but now I just do about a 3-to-1 ratio of veggies to pasta. It’s SO much more filling that way & it doesn’t take much more time either.

  13. Definitely bookmarking this – looks delicious!

  14. This looks good! Just pinned and stumbled it. :)

  15. I’m going to make this for the school I cook for.

  16. Making this tomorrow for the kids at the school but will be using quinoa pasta because of some kids with celiac.

  17. Probably my dinner tonight! Looks so great. Now I am starving….

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