No Ricotta Lasagne (or Ziti)

No Ricotta Lasagne – Or Baked Ziti!

Unfortunately, Darren HATES ricotta and being Italian that limits a lot of pasta dishes.  THANK GOD for my friend and yoga diva instructor, Julie (PinkieMcQueen if you want to follow her blog!)!  She gave me a recipe, which I tweaked a little, on lasagne without ricotta – which comes out more like a baked Ziti...  SUPER yummy and Darren LOVES it!

• 3C of Easy Peasy Healthy Bolognese (see recipe in Nov 2011 section)
• 1lb of spiral pasta (I use whole wheat or whole grain)
• 1 brick of either low fat cream cheese or neufatchel cheese
• 1/2C shredded mozzarella
• 1/4C grated parmesan
• 1/4C egg beaters
• ½ t onion powder & ½ t garlic powder
• 1T parsley
• 4-5 slices of mozzarella

Preheat oven to 350.  Take cream cheese out and let it come to room temp on counter.  Boil pasta to al dente as directed on the package.  Drain pasta and throw back in the pot.  Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl that is microwave safe, warm the cream cheese in the microwave in 30sec increments till it stirs easily.  Then add in the mozzarella, parmesan, powders, parsley and when the cheese mixture is a little cool – the egg beaters (you don't want the heat to cook the egg).  Pour the mixture over the drained pasta and toss til well mixed.  Then pour ½ of the bolognese into the pot and toss.  Then pour the whole thing into a baking dish (spray the pan with cooking spray for easy clean up later).  Then top it with the rest of the bolognese and place the mozzarella slices on top for decorative but tastey look.

Bake for 30mins.  You may want to make extra marinara for those who like a saucy ziti.  TOTALLY FABU FOOD!!!