I’m still on my healthy kick, so I ordered another cookbook.  The recipes in this book are different than my usual casserole collection, so that is nice.

There are lots of vegan recipes.  I’m not a vegan (obviously), but I can appreciate how hard it must be to find a cookbook with vegan recipes.

I do feel like they padded the book a bit.  There were several recipes for pasta bakes with just one ingredient changed.  They could have just put one recipe in for a pasta bake and then put optional ingredients at the bottom.  That is such a picky complaint though.

The ingredients for the light baked ziti are

• 1 (16 oz) package of ziti pasta
• 1/4 cup of sun-dried tomatoes
• 16 oz of sliced mushrooms
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 Tbsp of minced garlic
• 1 (28 oz) can of crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 3/4 cup of part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1 and 1/2 cups of diced, cooked chicken
• 1/4 cup of chopped, fresh basil

Spray a 9 x 13 casserole dish with non stick cooking spray and preheat the oven to 350°. Cook the ziti according to the directions, drain and place in the casserole dish.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the mushrooms and garlic.   Cook until the mushrooms are slightly tender, about 4 to 5 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, sugar and salt.  Simmer for about 10 minutes.

Pour the sauce over the pasta and stir in 1/4 cup of the mozzarella cheese, the chicken, and basil.  Sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella cheese on top.  Bake the pasta for 20 minutes.

I thought this was a great light alternative to my heavier ziti recipe (with ricotta and 2 cups of mozzarella cheese).  I served it with creamed spinach and sprinkled a little grated Parmesan cheese.

The dish serves 8.

Calories:  356, Fat: 9.7g, Protein: 19g, Fiber: 4.1 g, Carbohydrates: 51 g, Sugar: 2.2 g