Baked Pasta with Sausage, Tomatoes, and Cheese

Jason and I tried this pasta dish for dinner last night. It was excellent!! This was very easy to make and didn’t take too much time. I was unable to find hot turkey Italian sausage, so I used the sweet and added a little bit of spice to it. It was delicious.

Baked Pasta with Sausage, Tomatoes, and Cheese

Ingredients
1 (1-pound) package ziti, uncooked  I used rigatoni
1 pound hot turkey Italian sausage links
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 (14.5 oz) cans petite-diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup chopped, fresh basil I used dried because that’s all I had
Cooking spray
1 cup shredded fresh mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.  Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain pasta and set aside.

Remove casings from sausage. Cook sausage, onions, and garlic in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Add tomato paste, salt, pepper, and tomatoes, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Combine cooked pasta, sausage mixture, and basil. Place half the pasta mixture in a 4 quart casserole dish coated with cooking spray. Cover with half of mozzarella and half of Parmesan. Repeat layers. Bake for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Yield: 8 servings

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