Lasagna Pasta Bake

Love the flavors of Lasagna but want to do something a little bit different?  That's was had me wanting to make this dish.  That and I thought it would be faster than regular lasagna.  Disclaimer... it wasn't any faster than making a traditional lasagna but it was fun to make and kids ate it up!

Preheat oven to 375 and spray Pam on the bottom and sides of the casserole

Here are the layers:
I like to get each of the layers ready and set them out on the counter close to my baking disk.  (This one is a 3 quart casserole from Rachael Ray.)

Pasta - Cooked and drained
1 box Mafalda pasta

Cheesiness - Mix together well
2 cups lowfat cottage cheese
1 cup part skim ricotta
1 egg
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Meatiness - Brown meat with the onion then add sauce
1 1/2 cups reduced fat sausage (I used a Jimmy Dean tube)
1/2 chopped onion

Sauce it up
1 large jar marinara sauce (1/2 cup as the foundation of the layers and then add the rest to the meat and onions.)

How I layered it up:
1/2 cup marinara spread around on the bottom of the casserole
1/3 of the cooked pasta
All of the cheesiness (if you are doing a smaller casserole dish- you might want to break this up)
1/3 cooked pasta
1/2 of the meat and sauce
Final 1/3 of the pasta
Rest of the meat and sauce
Top it off with 1 1/2 cups low fat mozzarella

Bake for 40-50 minutes.  I like to turn the oven to a low broil for the last 5 minutes to brown up the cheese.  Let it set a few minutes before diving in to help it hold it's shape when serving.  (The picture above is my piece after I added red pepper flakes.)

Happy Sunday Funday!