Zucchini Ziti

There's nothing I like better than an easy recipe for the slow cooker, so imagine how excited I was to find this recipe from Skinny Ms that only requires 2 hours cooking time!  Perfect for those times when you don't have time to throw a meal in the slow cooker before work and you'll still be able to eat before bedtime!

Ingredients:

1 (24 oz.) jar marinara (no sugar added)

3 cups whole grain ziti shells, optional penne

2 cups fat free cottage cheese

2 cups skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 large zucchini (1/4” slices)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon fresh basil (finely chopped)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

kosher or sea salt to taste

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients. Pour mixture into slow cooker, cover and cook on low approximately 2 hours, or until ziti is al dente (firm but not hard).

Skinny Ms Tip: If you're on a tight budget try Ragu Lite (no sugar added) and if you're not, we like Amy's Organic Marinara Pasta Sauce.

What we changed (it's what we do!):

1.  Instead of ziti, we used whole grain penne pasta.

2. We couldn't find either of the suggested marinara sauces, but we did find a reasonably priced marinara that was no sugar added, so we were happy...and it tasted quite good.

3.  At 2 hours, the pasta was not hard, but still a little chewy.  When we checked again at 2 hr, 15 minutes, the pasta was al dente!

Our thoughts:

Very tasty!  The zucchini really picked up the flavors from the marinara sauce.  Another plus is that the zucchini wasn't soft or soggy, but still had the right amount of crispness, in my opinion.  After the success of this recipe, we can't wait to try a zucchini lasagna in the slow cooker!