Hearty Meaty Baked Ziti

Instead of making the typical Super Bowl party foods, I decided on a hearty one-dish meal. My recipe for Baked Ziti is healthy and filling. Plus, reheated leftovers are delicious. In order to provide nutritious stats for this pasta dish, I made some of my typical swaps. I used ground turkey breast, fat-free cottage cheese, light pasta sauce, and fat-free mozzarella in place of these high calorie varieties. Baked ziti is incredibly easy to make; you don't even have to boil the noodles before baking. This would be perfect for a quick week night meal. I will definitely be making this again soon.

Also, for all of you weight watchers, I will be adding the weight watchers plus points to each nutrition analysis beginning with this recipe. Over time I will be going back to previous posts to add this calculation as well. Hope this helps!

Baked Ziti

serves 8

Ingredients

1 26 oz. jar pasta sauce (I used light Ragu)

1 1/2 cups water

15 oz. fat-free cottage cheese

2 cups shredded fat-free mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 lb ground turkey breast, cooked and crumbled

8 oz. uncooked penne (I used Ronzoni Smart taste)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, combine pasta sauce, water, cottage cheese, 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, turkey, and penne.
3. Pour into prepared baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 55 minutes.
4. Remove dish from oven. Sprinkle with additional cup of mozzarella and bake uncovered for 5 minutes.

Nutrition: 276 calories, 32g carbohydrate, 34g protein, 2g fat, 5g fiber
weight waters points: 5
weight watchers + points: 7