Keilbasa Veggie Casserole

PSU Lioness's Note:

I came up with this recipe after reading a few others and pulling elements from them and adding some of my own. The family was pretty pleased with the end result. The sauce is a lighter tomato based sauce instead of the heavy spaghetti sauce that usually comes with dishes like this. I hope you enjoy! You can also use turkey kielbasa or any kind of fat or salt free products to increase the healthiness of this dish. I am posting as I made it.

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 1 (12 ounce) box penne pasta (I used Ronzoni Garden Delights for the extra servings of veggies)
• water (for cooking penne. Follow direction on the box)
• 1 lb kielbasa (I used Hillshire Farms Lite kielbasa)
• 1 (10 ounce) bag fresh spinach, sliced into thin strips (or shredded)
• 2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano (Del Monte was the brand I used)
• 1/4 cup light sour cream
• 1/2 cup light cottage cheese
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can low-sodium black beans, drained and rinsed thoroughly
• 1/2 cup shredded romano cheese (NOT the sprinkle cheese. You can also use shredded Parmesan)
• parmesan sprinkle cheese (for serving)

Directions:

1. Read box of pasta. Heat the instructed amount of water (and salt if you would like) to boiling in a large pot. Add pasta and cook according to package directions. It took 7 minutes for my pasta to cook. When finished, drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
2. Heat oven to 350.
3. Cut kielbasa into small "coins" and then cut the "coins" in half again. You can do this while pasta is cooking to save time but make sure you don't overcook the pasta.
4. Heat a large saucepan over Medium-High heat and add kielbasa. Cook until nicely browned on both sides. Remove to a plate.
5. Open tomatoes and lightly drain some of the liquid. You'll want to keep some but you don't want them to be soupy. Drain the remaining liquid into the pan that you used for the kielbasa. Turn heat to Medium.
6. Chop the remaining diced tomatoes until they are pretty smashed up. I used my Pampered Chef chopped buy you could use a food processor.
7. Add the tomatoes to the liquid in the pan. Heat until bubbly.
8. Add the fresh spinach and cook until wilted, about 3 minutes.
9. Stir in the sour cream and cottage cheese. Heat until slightly bubbly again.
10. Stir in the kielbasa and black beans. Heat until bubbly again.
11. Pour the entire mixture over the pasta and stir gently to coat.
12. Pour the mixture into a 9x13 glass baking dish.
13. Sprinkle with shredded Romano or Parmesan cheese.
14. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until heated through.
15. Serve with Parmesan.