{lighter} baked ziti

who doesnt love italian food? my mom and her side of the family are 100% italian, so i have definitely had my share growing up. normally it was spaghetti and meatballs (EVERY sunday!) lasagna, fried meats, fried veggies and bread. carbs carbs & more carbs. i've actually never had baked ziti until i made it a few months ago. it is normally made with beef & ricotta cheese. while i looove ricotta cheese, mike hates it. so i found a recipe that uses sour cream instead and it turned out very good. this time around i wanted to lighten it up even more. instead of 1 lb of ground beef i used 1/2 lb ground pork and 1/2 lb ground turkey. it was just as good! the pork is 200 calories less than the turkey and has less than 1/2 of the fat! i had no idea ground pork was so lean. here's what you will need:


2- 26 oz jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce (mine were 24 oz each)
** since i was short 4 oz of sauce, next time i will add a small can of tomato sauce.
1 16 oz box of penne noddles (mine was only 14)
1 1/2 cups of sour cream
1 pkg of shredded mozzarella cheese
6 slices of provolone cheese
1/2 lb of ground turkey
1/2 lb of ground pork
1/3 cup of parmesan cheese
1/2 of a chopped white onion
1 tbsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS-
add olive oil to pan and saute onions until golden brown, set aside. add pork and turkey and cook until done. add in both jars of sauce and onions, simmer for 15 minutes. while sauce is simmering, preheat oven to 350 and cook noddles until done. grease a baking dish and layer: 1/2 noodles, provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining noodles, mozzarella and remaining sauce. bake in oven for 30 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

sprinkle w/ parmasean cheese. cut into equal servings and enjoy!

now, i cut mine into 8 servings. mike of course eats more than me, so i made 4 of the servings equal for me and the other 4 equal for him. you could get 10 meals out of this easily. just depends on how much you want to eat!

here's the nutritional value:
*8oz ground turkey
540 cals, 40 fat, 0 carb, 0 fiber, 42 protein
*8oz ground pork
340 cals, 18 fat, 0 carb, 0 fiber, 40 protein
*24oz tomato basil garlic prego
400 cals, 12.5 fat, 60 carbs, 15 fat, 15 protein
*24oz italian sausage garlic prego
450 cals, 15fat, 65 carbs, 15 fat, 15 protein
*14 oz penne smart taste
1020 cals, 3 fat, 240 carbs, 30 fat, 36 protein
*1 1/2 cups kraft fat free sour cream
360 cals, 0 fat, 60 carbs, 0 fat, 24 protein
*1 pkg g.f. shredded mozz part skim
640 cals, 48 fat, 4 carbs, 0 fat, 56 protein
*6 slices g.f. sliced provolone
420 cals, 30 fat, 0 carbs, 0 fat, 30 protein
(i forgot to add the olive oil & parm cheese)
that should equal to about 500 calories per serving if its cut into 8 servings.
let me know if you try this recipe! enjoy :)
xxoo