So as a vegetarian, I need to get creative with food. Fortunately, I’m one of those people who can poke through my cupboard and usually come up with something on the fly. Sometimes, though, what I come up with is better than others. This one I did tonight and wanted to record for my own purposes, but thought, “Hey if I blog it, I can share.” It’s definitely not something I’d make very often, as it’s far from healthy eating, but it’s a good treat every once and awhile.

I don’t know what to call it… maybe, “Parmesan Lover’s Macaroni”.

Ingredients

1 can cream of mushroom soup (I used healthy request Fat Free)

Approx. 1/2 c ricotta cheese (I used skim)

Approx. 1/2 c shredded Parmesan cheese

1 1/3 c mozarella cheese (again, I used part-skim)

Chopped mushrooms and white onion (as desired, I used about 7 large mushrooms and 1/4 of a medium white onion)

2 cloves garlic, chopped fine

2-3 c dried pasta

Approx. 2 Tbls olive oil

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Coat the bottom of a frying pan with olive oil, add water so the overall level is about 1/2 inch of liquid. Add the chopped garlic and let it simmer for a few minutes. Add mushrooms and onions and let simmer until thoroughly cooked. Drain any excess fluid, add cream of mushroom soup (meat eaters could probably substitute cream of chicken), cook together on medium heat for about 4-5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, bring your favorite pasta to boil in salted water. I used bow-tie pasta, but macaroni, ravioli, tortelli, etc could probably all work. Cook until tender, drain.

3. In a 9×13 pan, mix together the noodles and mushroom sauce with pepper to taste. Distribute the ricotta across the top of the mixture and sprinkle about half the Parmesan across the top. Mix it all together so you have a decent amount of ricotta and Parmesan throughout.

4. Top with mozarella until there is a decent layer. Sprinkle the rest of the Parmesan on top. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes or until everything is melted.

All of the amounts are definite approximates as I didn’t keep track of how much I was using, but I am sure if you look at it and it looks like too much or too little (I was being conservative with my estimates, so you might want to go up from my numbers).