Meatless Monday: Baked Ziti and Summer Veggies

I can spend hours looking for, sorting, and organizing my recipes.  I have pages and pages of ripped out recipes from the various food and cooking magazines that I've subscribed to over the years.  I have most of them organized my dish (appetizer, dessert, main course, etc.) in labeled manila folders.  However, I recently took it one step further and organized the main dish recipes into spring/summer and fall/winter.  This is how I came upon this recipe that I tore out of Cooking Light from last July!  Summer veggies.....August.....perfect!  Unfortunately, my kids are not summer veggie eaters.  But after their mandatory try a bite, they were easily able to pick out the veggies from this dish.  My husband really enjoyed this, while I thought it was okay.  Meaning, I won't be making it again!  If you have a bounty of leftover veggies from the garden this is a good dish to use some of them in.  

Baked Ziti and Summer Veggies
recipe from Cooking Light, July 2011

Ingredients:
4 ounces uncooked ziti
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups chopped yellow squash
1 cup chopped zucchini
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups chopped tomato
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 cup (2 ounces) part-skim ricotta cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray

Directions:
1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain.

2. Preheat oven to 400°.

3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan. Add squash, zucchini, and onion; sauté 5 minutes. Add tomato and garlic; sauté 3 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in pasta, 1/2 cup mozzarella, herbs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper.

4. Combine ricotta, remaining salt, and egg. Stir into pasta mixture. Spoon into an 8-inch square glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until bubbly and browned.

Family Rating: 1 thumb up.