Baked Feta Pasta and/or Carrot and Zucchini Noodles

Baked Feta cheese mixed with cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions over your favorite type of pasta is sure to make for a homerun dinner.  I prepared this two ways- macaroni noodles for my kids and a mixture of carrot and zucchini noodles for me.  The original recipe calls for 2 pints of cherry tomatoes, but since my 5 year old ate almost an entire pint in one day I had to improvise by substituting the bell peppers and onions. 

Recipe adapted from Food Network

Ingredients:

8 ounces Feta cheese

1 pint cherry tomatoes

1 bell pepper diced

½ sweet onion diced

¼ cup olive oil

Dash of salt and pepper

8 ounces pasta or noodles from 1 large carrot and 1 zucchini

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 garlic clove minced

1 tablespoon basil

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Add tomatoes, peppers, onion, and olive oil to glass baking sheet.  (I used two 8×8 dishes) Season with salt and pepper.
3. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
4. Add feta cheese and garlic to the center of the dish.  Bake 10-15 minutes more.
5. Cook pasta in a large pot of salted water to al dente according to package directions.  Reserve at least 1 cup of pasta water.
6. If using vegetable noodles spray a nonstick pan with olive oil spray.  Sauté on medium low heat for 5-10 minutes.  Sprinkle with Italian seasoning.
7. Remove tomato and feta mixture from the oven.  Gently stir the mixture to incorporate the cheese and mash the tomatoes. 
8. Add crushed red pepper and basil. 
9. Pour the pasta/vegetable noodles into baking dish. 
10. Pour the sauce over the dish.  (Add water if using pasta)
11. Top with extra feta cheese.
12. You can serve this now or you can refrigerate and serve later. 
13. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees stirring pasta halfway through to heat dish through .