Tricia's Week 31 Recipe: Garden-veggie Pasta Bake

It begins....the garden is beginning to share its wealth.  In my fridge I had two halves zucchini (the other halves were lost to smooshiness), two jalepenos, one green pepper, one red tomato and one yellow tomato.  In my cupboard, I had a container of Barilla Italian baking sause.  I thought to myself, hrmmm...I bet I could make something like a baked ziti, but with penne since that is what I have!  So, onto the internet I went to find a recipe to try.  I looked, and I looked and I looked, but nothing I found was what I wanted.  So, I did what I always do, I made it up!

Tricia's garden-veggie pasta bake.
Ingredients:
1 lb penne noodles
1 jar Barilla Italian baking sause
1 garden zucchini (actually, two halves, each about 1 1/2 inch in diameter)
1 garden yellow tomato (lemon boy variety)
1 garden red tomato (better boy variety)
2 garden jalapeños
1 garden green pepper
2 giant handfuls of mozzarella cheese (maybe about 2 cups?  I should measure)
1/2-1 teaspoon granulated onion
1/2 - 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1-3 teaspoons Italian seasoning

• Preheat oven to 350 (because everything is cooked at that temperature, it seems)
• Start by boiling the water for the noodles.  Before you add the noodles, stick tomatoes in water for about 20 seconds and remove, so that their skins peal off easily.  Now, add pasta and cook al dente, about 9 minutes, drain and set aside
• Cut up both tomatoes and zucchini (one inch cubes).  Add to pan and add all seasonings above along with a little olive oil to keep them from sticking.  Cook until most of the water from the tomatoes is gone.
• Find a large bowl (large enough for all the above).  Cut up jalapeños, and green pepper into bite sized pieces. Add those to large bowl.  Open baking sauce and add that to large bowl, mix.  When tomatoes and zucchini are done, cool for a bit, then add to bowl and mix.  Add cheese and noodles and mix until all combined.
• Take out a 3 qt casserole pan (I used a Pyrex 13x9in baking pan).  Add a bit of olive oil to this, and smear about to coat all surfaces.  Pour noodles, sauce, and veg into baking dish.  Put in oven.  I started baking this uncovered for 10 minutes, then changed my mind and covered for the remainder of the baking time.  Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until bubbly, and cheese is melted.

This was delicious!  I will definitely make it again.  Trevor says it can be made w/out the zucchini next time.  I like it that way, but think it would be good w/ other garden veg as well.