Penne with Zucchini and Cheese

I am always on the hunt for family pleasing recipes. I've shared a cheesy orzo recipe before and I'm back with another pasta favorite. We tend to make pasta once a week and my boys are not fans of tomato sauce (my husband isn't either). We are a vegetarian household (the husband is a vegetarian so I tend not to cook meat), which leaves me getting creative with meals. 

Last night I made "Penne with Zucchini and Cheese." I found the recipe on Pinterest (of course), and it originated at The Boot Blog (the boot = Italy, so it had pinterest cred right there). 

 I started by making the besciamel sauce (I only used half of this recipe).

• melt 5 tbsp of butter in a sauce pan
• stir in 4 tbsp of flour over medium heat and stir until golden
• have 3 cups of milk heated and add to sauce pan, whisking while adding
• boil for 30 seconds (it thickens) then set aside
• add 2 tsp of salt and a sprinkle of nutmeg 

Once I had the sauce ready to go, I got the recipe ready:

• 1 lb of penne (any pasta would work)
• 2 zucchini thinly sliced
• 1 onion finely chopped
• grated cheddar

1. Cook the pasta 2 minutes less than the box say, drain, return to pot.
2. saute the zucchini and onion in olive oil
3. Combine pasta and veggies in big pot with besciamel sauce (however much you like)
4. Pour into buttered casserole dish (I like to make two smaller casseroles for storage purposes)
5. Top with grated cheddar (or gruyere - yum) and pepper (I forgot the pepper)
6. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 and broil right at the end to make the top crusty.

My guys LOVED this. I served it with a salad full of their favorite veggies and it was a great meal (I'll admit whole wheat pasta would have been better). Enjoy!