Healthy Eggplant & Pasta Bake - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 medium eggplant, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 large zucchini, sliced 1/8-inch thick
4 garlic cloves, diced
1 1/2 cups dry measure quinoa pasta (elbows)
1 (16 ounce) container low fat cottage cheese
1 egg
8 ounces shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
2 ounces grated romano cheese (or parmesan)
1 (25 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce (or about 1 1/2 cups homemade)
salt & fresh ground pepper

Preparation

Salt eggplant slices and let sit 30 minutes in colander.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bring large pot of water to boil. Cook pasta 4-5 minutes (about halfway done). drain & rinse with cold water.
Mix egg and cottage cheese together. Rinse eggplant and pat dry.
Use a 9x9 or 9x13 casserole dish (the 9x9 will be filled to the brim). Spray with olive oil cooking spray. Start layering the ingredients. First a thin layer of sauce, then arrange so there are 2 layers of each ingredient: salt & pepper the veggies a little as you go & make sure the cottage cheese mixture is next to the pasta (it cooks into the pasta & tastes great). Top layers with sauce and about 1/2 the mozz & parm.
Bake 40 minutes covered & then uncover 'til brown & bubbly (about 10 more min.) Let sit a few minutes before slicing.