Plant-based beginning - Baked rigatoni

I’ve thought about eating vegetarian for awhile but instead of going cold turkey, I’m moving slowly into it. I decided to move away from meat for several reasons: I hate the idea of factory farms and miserable animals. I don't think it's sustainable, especially in the current state of the environment. I don't know what's in the meat, and I think that meatless is healthier overall. Actually, I do feel better, even after only about a month on the new program. And by "program" I mean only the one I'm making up for myself as I go along. In any case, I’ll be cooking vegetarian a lot of the time. Tonight, I made a roasted vegetable baked rigatoni. It was good and easy too.

You can choose any vegetables, but I used a mix of cauliflower, red pepper, onion, zucchini, carrot, and portobello mushrooms tossed in olive oil, pepper, salt - enough for a full sheet pan. Bake at 375 for around 30-40 minutes. I chopped up chard and basil into 16 oz of cottage cheese, one egg, a sprinkle of nutmeg, salt, and ground pepper.

 


Meanwhile , cook the pasta just to al dente and pour most of a 24-28 oz marinara sauce into it. I love the spicy marinara from our local Italian grocery, but any sauce you like will work. Even homemade! Fold the veggies into the pasta and sauce.

Then you just layer like you would a lasagna - pasta sauce mix with the cheese mix, and a last layer of sauce and mozzarella on top. Bake at 375 for about 35 minutes.

Very yummy! You can do a lot with roasted vegetables to take the place of meats -- particularly in pasta dishes.