Marinara and Tofu Pasta Bake

I like to spend all day in the kitchen, so I tend to make meals that are long-term commitments. Those two and three hour prep meals haven't been an option recently. I'm still in the kitchen all day, but it's to test cookie recipes and take photographs. That means I have been aiming for the quickest meals I can create.

The recipe I have for you today takes a long time to bake, but no more than about 15 minutes to put together. You can decrease the baking time, by assembling the dish in the morning, and baking it in the afternoon or evening.

Marinara and Tofu Pasta Bake
Pasta:
3 cups of your favorite marinara sauce
2 cups small, uncooked whole wheat pasta (bow ties, macaroni, shells, etc)
2 cups corn niblets (or any other veg you want)
2 cups diced tomatoes
1 cup veggie broth
12-16 ounce package firm or extra firm tofu, cut into small diced
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried basil or 1 tsp minced fresh basil

Topping:
1 1/2 cups panko
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tbsp oil (olive, canola, etc)

Mix all the pasta ingredients in a large bowl. Spread into a large, greased casserole dish. In a smaller bowl, stir together all the all topping ingredients. Sprinkle the topping over the casserole. Cover with foil and bake for 2 hours in a 350 degree oven. Remove the foil and bake an additional 30 minutes. If you want a really crispy topping, add it later during the baking time.

If you've made the dish in advance, and refrigerated it overnight or for the day, you can reduce the covered baking time by 20-30 minutes.