Skinny Pasta Bake with Ground Turkey Recipe

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir ground turkey in the hot skillet until starting to brown, 2 to 3 minutes; add 2 cloves of chopped garlic, salt, and pepper. Continue to cook, adding mushrooms and remaining garlic, until turkey is fully browned and crumbly and mushrooms are softened, about 5 minutes more.
Stir spaghetti sauce, stewed tomatoes, and fresh tomato into the pan. Add Parmesan cheese, half-and-half, and 1/2 of the cottage cheese; stir until incorporated. Season with onion, oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper and let simmer to allow flavors to meld.
While the sauce simmers, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook rigatoni in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until tender yet firm to the bite, about 12 minutes. Drain.
Pour cooked pasta into a large bowl and stir in remaining cottage cheese, making sure it is evenly dispersed. Add 1/2 tablespoon basil and mix thoroughly.
Pour 1/2 of the sauce mixture into the bottom of a large casserole or baking dish. Pour pasta over and top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
Bake in the preheated oven, covered, until golden and bubbly, about 30 minutes.

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Cook's Notes:
You can use any kind of mushroom for this, and fresh onion can be substitute for dried minced onion. Any similar pasta can be used.
If desired, add more cottage cheese, half-and-half, or Parmesan cheese to the sauce to achieve desired taste and texture.
Instead of baking, you can simply add sauce mixture to cooked pasta and stir until coated. Serve family-style with Parmesan cheese on top.

Per Serving: 429 calories; 11.4 53.6 28.9 54 561 Full nutrition