Baked Ziti with Sausage Recipe

Ingredients

• 5 turkey italian sausage links, cooked thoroughly
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 8 oz button mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
• red, orange, yellow baby bell peppers, sliced
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
• sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
• dash of red crushed pepper flakes
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 8 oz of farfalle or pasta of your choice, cooked per instructions
• 3/4 cup non fat ricotta cheese
• 3 tbsp fresh basil, chiffonade (more for garnishing)
• 1 jar of marinara sauce of choice
• 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese
• 2 tbsp asiago cheese


Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a baking dish with cooking spray.
Cook the turkey Italian sausage links in a skillet over medium heat until completely cooked through. Let the sausage cool then chop up into small bite size pieces.
Add the olive oil to the same skillet then add the mushrooms, onions, and peppers; season with fennel, sea salt, freshly cracked pepper, to taste, and the red pepper flakes. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add the minced garlic then cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from the heat.
While the mushrooms are cooking, cook the pasta per instructions. Drain. Add the sausage and mushroom mixture to the pasta then add the ricotta cheese, fresh basil, and marinara sauce. Mix until well combined. Taste and re-season if needed.
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