Veggie Pasta Bake

In the past few weeks I've started trying to regularly cook.  Not just making dinner, but cooking actual things, mostly so that I can have leftovers.  The other part of the goal is to make things that are healthy: lots of veggies, lower fat, that sort of thing.

In that spirit I made this pasta bake last week.  It is based on a recipe from the Hungry Girl 300 Under 300 cookbook.  The original recipe says that it makes 4 servings, but I actually divvied it up into just 3.  I also changed the pasta to what I had in my cabinet (macaroni rather than ziti) and made a few other changes.  Let's be honest, I used more cheese.  

Ingredients:

• 5 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) uncooked pasta
• 1 cup thinly sliced/chopped onions (about 3/4 of a medium onion)
• 2 cups thinly sliced mushrooms (I used one package of button mushrooms)
• 1+ Tbsp minced garlic
• 2 cups spinach (I used one bag of spinach from the salad section)
• 3/4 cup light or low-fat ricotta cheese
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:  

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
2. Prepare pasta to al dente, drain, and set aside in a bowl
3. Heat a large skillet sprayed with non-stick spray, to a medium heat
4. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until onions are soft (about 3 or 4 minutes)
   
5. Add mushrooms, garlic, and basil.  Cook until mushrooms are soft (about 3 minutes)
   
6. Add spinach and, again stirring often, cook until spinach is wilted and excess moisture was evaporated (about 8 minutes)
   
   
7. Remove skillet from heat and add ricotta cheese.
   
8. Transfer everything from the skillet to the bowl with the pasta
   
9. Add tomatoes and 1/2 cup of the mozzerella cheese.  Stir
10. Spray a 8in or 9in square baking pan with non-stick spray.
11. Add mixture from bowl
    
12. Top with Parmesan and the rest of the mozzerella
    
13. Bake about 15 minutes (until entire dish is hot and cheese on top is melted)