Roasted Veggie Pasta

Vegetarian pasta dishes are a great way to get a healthy and quick meal on the table in a flash.  My roasted veggie pasta casserole is very good and really easy. 

Roast grape or cherry tomatoes with several cloves of garlic as well as any other veggies on hand. 

Today, I bought five zuccini for $1.50 so I decided to add them.  I also added leeks and sweet peppers.

Chunk chop the other veggies and coat everything with olive oil, salt and pepper. 

 My oven was about 350 degrees.  Be sure to turn everything a couple times while roasting for even cooking.  The zuccini will be done before the tomatoes and garlic so I put them on different cookie sheets. 

Once the tomatoes and garlic are done you can either smash them up with a potato masher or throw them into your food processer. 

The other veggies can be chopped into bite size pieces once they're roasted.

I used mini penne pasta this time but you can use any kind that you prefer.  For the cheese Asiago, Parmesan, and Mozzarella are all very good in this dish.  It's always great for flavor to use fresh herbs, Basil, Thyme, and Parsley are all delicious.  

Once everything is chopped, shredded and cooked, you're ready to assemble the casserole.  You can mix the sauce and the pasta or layer everything separately.  Bake for 30 minutes on 325-350 degrees.

A green salad made up of arugala, hearts of romaine, carrots, and sweet peppers is a great side and I made a salad dressing with dijon mustard, maple syrup, fresh squeezed lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh basil.  Along with some oven roasted crusty garlic bread this was a hearty meal that makes you forget about meat and potatoes.  . 

Amelia even came dressed for dinner.