Basic Baked Rigatoni

This recipe is a healthy make-over of a dish I learned how to make in my 8th grade cooking class. Whole wheat pasta and low-fat cheeses make this better for you and more Weight Watchers friendly. This is also a basic dish, meaning you can add all kinds of different ingredients to it to shake things up if you want!

Ingredients:

1 box of whole wheat pasta
1 jar of pasta sauce
1 small container of low-fat ricotta cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (again, low-fat)
Parmesan cheese
oregano
garlic powder
salt & pepper

First, cook the pasta. You could use ziti, penne, rigatoni or similar shaped pasta.


While pasta is cooking, make the cheese mixture. Use small container of ricotta, 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella, salt, pepper, oregano and garlic powder. Mix well.


Coat a 9 by 9 dish with non-stick spray.

Pour a small amount of pasta sauce on the bottom of the pan.


Add half of the cooked pasta. Sprinkle with oregano.


Add all of the cheese mixture and then top with half of the jar of sauce.

(be sure to smooth out the ricotta, not shown here)

Add the remaining half of pasta.

Top with remaining sauce and sprinkle with cheese if you please.




Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.




1/6th of the pan is 7 Weight Watchers points and is very filling! That is the serving size shown in the picture above.

Ideas for a more versatile dish: add ground beef or vegetarian crumbles, add spinach, mushrooms or other vegetables, use different varieties of pasta