Baked Penne Pasta Lasagna Style

One of the recipes that Ken picked out for this week was Baked Penne Pasta Lasagna Style*.

This was really easy to make, very similar to preparing lasagna. I especially liked that the recipe called for ground turkey and fat free ricotta cheese. It was really really yummy and the kids liked it as well. I could taste the turkey, but no one else could tell the difference from using ground beef. Andrew actually helped me put all the ingredients together because he didn’t have baseball practice for once. He has been pretty excited about trying some new foods despite that this recipe called for mushrooms. I’ve been cooking with fresh mushrooms rather than canned and they taste so much better. One error I made was I used the entire box of pasta, which was more than 7oz, so I should have increased my spaghetti sauce as well. It could have used more sauce, but it had just the right amount of cheese and was quite tasty.

BAKED PENNE PASTA LASAGNA

INGREDIENTS
Barilla Plus Penne, 7 oz cooked and drained
Turkey, Ground turkey, 93% lean, 16 oz
Ricotta cheese, fat-free, 8 oz
Mozzarella Cheese, part skim milk, 16 oz
Egg, fresh, 1 large
Basil, 2 tbsp
Spaghetti/Marinara Sauce, 4 cups
Garlic, 3 clove
Salt, 1 tsp
Pepper, black, 1 tsp
Hot pepper flakes 1/2 tsp (I substituted with pepper seasoning)
Mushrooms, sliced 4 oz
Parmesan, grated 4 tbsp

DIRECTIONS
Lightly spray 13 x 9 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown ground turkey and drain.
Add the marinara sauce and hot pepper flakes and 1/2 each of salt & pepper and the sliced mushrooms.
Let sauce come to a simmer and simmer while combining the cheese layer.

In a medium bowl combine ricotta cheese, 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese, and 3 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese,the egg, the fresh garlic chopped , the fresh basil chopped, the 1/2 tsp salt and pepper.
Mix until well combined.

In the prepared baking dish spread 1/3 of the sauce on the bottom of dish, press 1/2 of the pasta on top of the sauce. On top of the pasta spread all of the cheese mixture.
On top of the cheese mixture place 1/3 of the sauce mixture, and then the other 1/2 of the pasta topping with the remaining sauce.
Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

Bake uncovered in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes.

Tastes great with Caesar salad and fresh bread!

Our Rating: B
I would make it again and it’s easier to make than messing around with lasagna noodles that never quite fit in the pan right!

Before baking…

*Recipe from SparkRecipes.com