Vegetarian Zucchini Rotini Casserole Topped with Monterey

Can you believe the size of that zucchini from my garden?! Perfect amount to make one of my favorite homemade recipes-zucchini casserole!  This recipe is vegetarian, kid friendly, and super simple! Another thing that I love about this recipe is its room for variation.  You can pretty much add anything you want to this-be creative!  Next time I may add some eggplant and broccoli.  Spinach would work well in this too!  And for an extra vegetarian protein punch, add some veggie crumbles.

The zucchini and green pepper are from my garden, and the onion and garlic are organic choices I had on hand.  All you need is some tomato sauce and pasta of your choice!  I prefer to use veggie pasta since it is an effective way of getting veggies into my picky four-year-old.  These noodles are made with spinach, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, beets, and shiitake mushrooms.  Vegetables my son would never touch by choice!  I highly recommend this pasta if you haven’t yet discovered it.  It contains 1/2 cup of veggies per serving!

Here are the ingredients I used and easy to follow directions.

Ingredients:

One Large Zucchini

1 and 1/2 jars of tomato sauce

1/2 purple onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 Green Pepper

Fresh Oregano (about 10 leaves)

1 cup dry pasta of choice

Shredded Monterey Cheese

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil

9 x 13 glass baking dish

Directions:

Pre-heat Oven to 400 degrees

Wash and chop Zucchini into quarters.

Dice green pepper, onion, and garlic.

Toss all vegetables with 1 Tbsp. olive oil in Large bowl.

Add one jar of tomato sauce and about one cup of DRY pasta to vegetable mix.  No need to cook the pasta before hand.  The water from the zucchini will cook the pasta to the perfect temperature while it is baking.  Add in fresh oregano leaves and stir well.  Spray bottom of glass pan with several sprays from your olive oil misto sprayer.  Spread zucchini mix into your glass pan.  Top mix with 1/2 jar tomato sauce.  Cover with foil and bake for about an hour.  Check the casserole about 40 minutes in and pierce zucchini with fork.  You want the zucchini to still be a bit crispy on the edges yet soft in the middle.  The sauce should be bubbling by this point.  Try to avoid overcooking the zucchini as it will become soggy.  When you feel the zucchini is cooked, pull the casserole out and top with shredded monterey cheese, or cheese of your choice.

Put casserole back in over uncovered for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Let cool for at least 5 minutes-casserole will be hot! Serve topped with some parmesan cheese.  Enjoy!!!