Baked Pasta with (Turkey) Sausage and Spinach

Oh my goodness... I found this recipe on Skinny Taste and it was DELICIOUS!  Even my 14 month old couldn't get enough.  All we heard through dinner were his sound effects, "Uh, uh, uh", when he wanted more and, "Mmmmmm" when he finally got what he wanted! :)


Serving Size - 1 3/4 cups
Points per Serving - 8 (old points) and 10 (Points Plus)

Ingredients:

• olive oil spray
• 1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano (I used grated Parmesan)
• 8 oz fat-free ricotta
• 8 oz part-skim mozzarella, shredded
• 14 oz uncooked sweet Italian chicken sausage, removed from casing (I could not find this for the life of me so I just used the uncooked Italian flavored ground turkey sausage from Wal Mart)
• 12 oz high-fiber or low carb rigatoni pasta (I used whole wheat)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 cloves smashed garlic, roughly chopped
• 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess liquid (I used a couple handfuls of fresh spinach and chopped it up)
• salt and fresh pepper to taste
• 4 cups Quick Marinara Sauce (I used one jar of garlic and onion spaghetti sauce)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375°. Spray a 9- x13-inch baking dish with olive oil spray.  (I found this size dish to be too big so I used a large glass bowl casserole dish.)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, 6 tablespoons of the Pecorino Romano cheese and half of the mozzarella cheese.

Meanwhile, in a large deep skillet, brown the sausage breaking up into small bits until cooked through; set aside. Add the oil to the skillet and sauté garlic about a minute, careful not to burn. Add spinach and season with a little salt and pepper and cook another minute. Return the sausage to the skillet and add the marinara sauce; cook on low about 2-3 minutes.

When the pasta water comes to a boil, cook pasta according to instructions for al dente, but undercook them by 4 minutes less; drain and return to pot.

Put half of the cooked pasta into the prepared baking dish and top with half of the meat sauce. Spoon the ricotta mixture on top of the sauce in an even layer. Cover with the remaining pasta and the remaining sauce. Top with the remaining mozzarella and Pecorino Romano cheese.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 6-7 minutes or until the mozzarella is melted and the edges are lightly browned.

Jewels*