Tofu Tuesday #20

Brought to you by...
Kaci@Ellyphant & Kelli@Gohn Crazy

Tofu Tuesday is the place to share all of your vegetarian secrets. If you have a great recipe to share, a product to rave or rant about, or anything that has made being a vegetarian easier for you please share it. (And vegans, please jump in too!!) Feel free to grab the little button over there to the right. After you post come back here and link up down there with MckLinky. Make sure to link to your Tofu Tuesday post and not to your main blog address. I'm looking forward to reading all your posts!

I'm running a bit late this week. Sorry!

I was worried about this recipe but it turned out being quite good. Hope you'll enjoy...

Ziti with Sausage & Zucchini



Serves 6
Total Time ~ 25 min
Cook Time ~ 15 min

Ingredients:

• 1 package(s) (16 ounces) ziti rigate or wagon-wheel pasta
• Salt, to taste
• 3/4 pound(s) sweet Italian-sausage links, casings removed
• 3 medium (about 8 ounces each ) zucchini, each cut lengthwise in half, then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 1/4 teaspoon(s) coarsely ground black pepper
• 1 can(s) (28 ounces) whole plum tomatoes
• Grated Parmesan cheese, optional

Some obvious modifications necessary, right?! I used MorningStar's Veggie Italian Style Sausage instead of actual sausage. I was only planning on making this for our family, but due to a goof at the grocery store I ended up having to make this on Thursday when our friends came over - nonveggies. ;) They ate it and said it was very good, although they may have been being nice. haha So I wanted to make it feed more than the 6 that it said. I had 6 sausage links so I used all 6 in this. I only had 2 large zucchinis but it seemed like a decent amount. I also used the wagon wheels and used a full 16 oz box. Other than that I followed the rest of the directions - obviously adding the cheese as everything is better with cheese. ;) In the end it fed 4 adults and 4 1/2 kiddos with 2 nice sized helpings for leftovers.

Directions:

1. In large saucepot, prepare pasta in boiling salted water as label directs.
2. Meanwhile, heat nonstick 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add sausage meat and cook until browned, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently to break up sausage. With slotted spoon, transfer sausage to bowl.
3. Discard all but 1 tablespoon sausage drippings from skillet. Add zucchini, pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook until zucchini is golden, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes with their juice; heat to boiling, breaking up tomatoes with side of spoon. Return sausage to skillet. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer about 5 minutes longer.
4. 4. Drain pasta; return to saucepot. Add sausage mixture; toss well. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese if you like.

And modifications to actually making it are rather straightforward. I made the "sausage" up as directed on the box. After that had cooked I took them out and cut them the same as I cut the zucchini and put them in their own bowl. I had to add a tiny bit of water back to my pan to cook up the zucchini. Once those were cooked up I followed the directions once again. At the end I put it all in a big serving bowls and tossed everything together then topped it all with the cheese. It was delicious.