This is a super easy dish to make.
I mean it is ridiculously simple. Almost simpler than anything else I have ever made. You basically just combine all of your ingredients into one casserole dish, bake for 45 minutes, and your done.
And it’s a good thing for these simple recipes too. Some nights you get home exhausted and you just don’t feel like standing and cooking for an hour or more. Clean up and preparing all of your ingredients takes time in the kitchen. Thankfully, this recipe mostly calls for already prepared foods, so there is not much clean up either, like canned diced tomatoes, a frozen spinach package, and a box of pasta of your choosing.
I used Jovials Gluten Free Penne pasta. They also seemed to have came out with this amazing gluten free ‘Manacotti’ pasta that I cannot wait to try! One of the first gluten free pasta’s of it’s kind, because you often see gluten free pasta in penne or spaghetti form. We will be cooking the pasta in our sauce while it bakes, and I have only tried this with pasta that the package says takes 9 minutes to cook when in boiling water. I am not sure how long you would need to bake this dish for if you are using a pasta that takes longer than 10 minutes to cook via boiling. Can’t hurt to cook it for a little longer if you run into that problem! Just make sure your ‘cheese’ does not burn;P
Anyways, for nights like tonight, when it is approaching ‘that time of the month’, I am thankful for easy to make healthy meals like this one.
Thanks to Half Baked Harvest for the original recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 -12oz Box Dried GF Pasta
- -
- TOMATO SAUCE:
- 1 Cup - Vegetable Broth
- 1 - 28oz Diced Tomatoes
- 2 Tbsp - Tomato Paste
- 1 - 10oz Frozen Spinach
- 1/2 Cup - Vegan Cheese, shredded (I used 'Follow Your Heart Parmesan')
- 3 Cloves - Garlic, crushed
- 1 Tbsp - Oregano
- 1 Tbsp - Italian Spices (oregano, thyme, rosemary, etc)
- 1 tsp - Red Pepper Flakes
- Dash of Sea Salt and Black Pepper
- -
- Slices or shredded Vegan Cheese (I use 'Follow Your Heart Mozzarella'), to layer on top
- Chopped Parsley, to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat your oven 375F. Oil a casserole dish that is about 9"x13".
- Add all of your Tomato Sauce ingredients into the casserole, and stir everything very well.
- Next, toss your dried pasta in with the sauce and push your pasta as well as you can down into it so that it is covered. Any pasta that is sticking out above the sauce could become hard when cooking.
- Layer your vegan cheese on top, cover with aluminum foil (to prevent burning!) and bake for 40-45 minutes.
- When the time is up, uncover your dish and poke the pasta to check the hardness. Give it a taste if you think it is ready to ensure that it is thoroughly cooked through (remember to blow so you don't burn your lips hehe).
- If everything is cooked to your desire, uncover, let cool, and garnish with chopped parsley! Enjoy warmed:)