Baked Squash and Penne

I do so love Italian Cuisine. If I could, I would have Italian all the time. The only problem is that if I eat too much of it, I would be back to being a rather big boy and I don't necessarily want that to happen. The only consolation is that I can have it in moderation. Again, like most things, I might make a big batch of something, but I will freeze it and enjoy it with a nice side salad.

Well for this go around, I wanted to make something fresh that would be rather good for you. We have a community garden out in the back of our place. We have okra and plenty of squash. Needless to say, we ended up having a bumper crop of both.

Ingredients:

4 cups Spaghetti Sauce
2 tbsp basil
2 tbsp thyme
1 lb ground turkey
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
4 - 5 cups squash (zuchinni, yellow or other types)
1 medium onion
2 tbsp butter
1 16 oz bag penne pasta
2 cups italian cheese (mozzerella, parm and asiago)

Start by working with the 4 cups of Spaghetti Sauce. Now I had my own sauce that I had made. Either if you use Not Really Scratch made (Store bought) sauce or your own, you might need to add additional fresh basil and thyme to the sauce. This will add some extra is great. If need be add more salt and pepper to taste.

 

 
While the sauce is continuing to cook, start to cook the ground turkey. Cook the meat until its browned. After it has browned, place it into the spaghetti sauce. I like to add more white wine. Nothing like having a glass of wine while cooking!

 

Boil the water making sure that it is well salted. Once the pot is boiling, add the pasta. Make sure the pasta is cooked until tender. Drain the pasta making sure it is free of water. Place the pasta into the pasta dish.

 

 

Chop up the squash and half the onion. We have zuchinni, yellow and white acorn squash. In a pan with the pats of butter, lightly saute all of the squash and onion. Once it is well cooked, take off the eat and place off to the side.

Now add the squash to the cooked pasta. Lightly mix trying to avoid bruising the squash.

 

 

Now that you have the squash mixed with the penne pasta, you can start to add the spaghetti sauce to the pasta. Be sure to cover the sauce well over the penne.

 

Preheat the oven to 350. Cover the pasta dish with foil and place into the oven and allow to bake covered for about 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes are over, uncover the pasta dish and sprinkle the cheese over the pasta. Allow it to continue to cook until the cheese has melted.

 

I love this dish as it's rather light. We enjoy it with a nice side salad and some garlic bread. Of course like most things, I used food savers so I can enjoy it later on during the week.