Chicken Sausage Pasta Bake

Courtesy of Hungry Girl: 6 Ingredient Meals

In an effort to keep cooking at home and using my many magazines, this recipe caught my eye because - pasta. cheese. This was a lightened up pasta dish that was delicious and well balanced. I am very much looking forward to these leftovers! Feel free to switch up the veggies or type of sausage, but the zucchini and chicken sausage was perfect. Enjoy!

Note: I did increase the cheese as it wasn't enough to cover the pasta and I changed the blend.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pasta (penne is what I used)

12 oz (~4 links) Italian style chicken sausage (fully cooked)

2 cups zucchini, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 1/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes

3/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella & provolone mix, divided

1 tsp garlic powder, divided

1 tsp onion powder, divided

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray an 8x8 baking dish with non-stick spray. Cook the pasta per the box instructions. I would suggest cooking to al dente since it will bake in the oven as well. Drain and put in a large bowl. While that is cooking, heat a saute pan with olive oil over medium-high heat. Add in the sausage, zucchini, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, and 1/2 tsp onion powder and stir together. Cook for about 4 minutes. Add the sausage and zucchini mixture to the pasta. Add in the tomatoes, 1/4 cup cheese, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning, and salt. Stir together and add to the baking dish. Top with the remaining cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes until the cheese is bubbly.