Nick's Baked Chiken & Vegetable Rigatoni

Nick, our nephew, and Katie, Doug's mom, are arriving this afternoon from LAX. I prepared a make ahead dish so we could attend to our reunion and getting Katie settled in to her home without the extra work of making dinner later in the day.

This is one of those dishes devised by looking in the fridge and coming up with something that utilizes what one has on hand. The plethora of vegetables and minimal sauce were selected with Nick in mind.

Nick's Baked Chicken & Vegetable Rigatoni
Serves 4 - 6

2 cups Rigatoni, medium size, cooked and drained
1 tbs olive oil
2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
1/2 lg onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups vegetable medley, cut into chunks,
such as red bell pepper, broccoli, yellow squash and zucchini
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes in juices or 1 pt cherry tomatoes
1 cup mozzarella, shredded
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
2 tbs basil, chopped
salt and pepper
1/4-1/2 cup prepared Marinara sauce
optional: dash of cream
1/4 bread crumbs
1/4 grated Parmesan
1 tbs butter

Preheat oven to 400.
Heat saute pan and put in olive oil. Add onions and bell pepper, cooking until onions soften. Add garlic, zucchini and squash, sauteing 2-3 min. Add the broccoli and saute until color changes. Stir in chicken, tomatoes, mozzarella, parsley, basil and salt and pepper. Add rigatoni and marinara sauce. Stir together Parmesan and bread crumbs
Use non stick spray or butter to prepare 9 x 12 baking dish. Pour in rigatoni, chicken and vegetable mixture. Sprinkle on Parmesan crumb mixture and place pats of butter atop dish. Bake until top is golden brown, 30-40 minutes.