Baked Spaghetti with Zucchini

You may have noticed that my blog has been a little more food-focused rather than craft-focused lately.  That's because this blog reflects my ever-changing life.  I haven't had much time for crafts lately, and the ones I've done wouldn't be all that interesting to the general public.

I'm still trying to lose a little more weight, and I'm still trying to work with my diet to appease my finicky stomach.

I was getting frustrated feeling deprived and thinking about all the foods that I can't have.  So I decided to start focusing on foods that I can eat.  I'm trying new foods and finding ways to work in more vegetables.  Since we've been a corn and green beans kind of family, this is challenging for all of us.

I figure the more variety I put in my diet, the greater my chances of getting the vitamins and nutrients that my body needs, and the less chance I have of experiencing diet burnout (been there).

My family likes zucchini.  Well, most of us do.  I have a zucchini pasta bake that is regularly in our dinner rotation.  But I still wanted to try this recipe that I found through FitnessMagazine.com.

Click here for the full recipe.

I liked that I could prep this recipe ahead of time and then just throw it in the oven to bake before dinner.  I did the prep work while the kids ate lunch (I waited and ate my lunch in peace during their nap time!). 

This recipe was tasty and received good reviews from all family members.  {Of course, Griffin ate a deconstructed version since he doesn't eat spaghetti sauce.}

Jared didn't even notice that I used wheat spaghetti noodles.

The best part:  no one even noticed the zucchini because it was shredded!  So if you want to sneak veggies into your kiddos, this recipe is a great way to do it.  I didn't peel my zucchini first, and I could see the dark green speckles amongst the noodles, but my kids didn't spot them.

This isn't a super low fat recipe, but you can make a few alterations if you want.  As I mentioned, I used wheat spaghetti.  I also used Prego Light Smart spaghetti sauce.  You could use fat-free mozzarella, but I just used what I had on hand.  I didn't put any meat in mine, but you could use a lean meat such as ground turkey or turkey pepperoni.  For the egg mixture that you pour over the noodle casserole, I used 3 eggs instead of four and increased the milk to 2/3 cup.  You could even use egg substitute.

I just wanted to pass along a great recipe to help infuse some veggies into your dinner!

Jessica