Summer Vegetable Ricotta Pasta

I made this for dinner a couple of nights ago because it seemed simple and delicious. I pinned it from this website--http://rantingchef.com/2012/07/01/no-chipmunk-cheeks-here/

& only made a few adjustments. 

First and foremost, I just added chicken because I felt like it needed some sort of "meat."  I also didn't really measure out anything exactly, as it's really a hassle to measure out 74 different seasonings and I'm not much of a "by-the-recipe" person.  As with almost all hearty pasta dishes, the leftovers were awesome and reheated well.  Lastly, if I make this again, I will probably up the quantity of vegetables I use.  If you are a veggie lover, then I would advise you to also add more than the quantities mentioned below.  

Anyway, here is the general procedure I followed:

Summer Vegetable Ricotta Pasta

• Preheat oven to 400 
• Cook about 3/4 of a 1-lb. box of your preferred pasta in a large pot with salted water--really, any pasta will work (rigatoni, ziti, macaroni, penne, etc)
• In a large saute pan over medium heat:
• Drizzle with EVOO
• Toss in the first round of bite-size veggies, in this order:
• Onion ( I used 1/4 yellow onion)
• Zucchini (I used two medium zucchini)
• Yellow Squash (I used one medium squash)
• Add in diced chicken breast (I used about 5-6 chicken breast tenderloins)
• Season with: 
• salt
• pepper
• Italian seasonings
• pinch of crushed red pepper
• whatever your heart desires!
• After a few minutes, add in a second round of veggies:
• 2-3 cloves of minced garlic
• tomatoes (I used 4-5 Campari tomatoes from Costco)
• In a medium bowl, prepare the sauce by combining:
• 1 egg
• 8 oz. whole milk Ricotta cheese (I used 1/2 of a 15 oz. container)
• 1/3 c. parmesan cheese
• splash of half & half
• fresh, chopped basil (I used ~3T)
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/4 t. pepper
• Assemble dish:
• Place cooked pasta on bottom of baking dish 
• Cover pasta with cooked vegetables and chicken 
• Pour in prepared sauce
• Toss a few times to incorporate everything
• Sprinkle with a generous helping of cheese (I used pre-shredded 6 Italian Cheeses Blend)
• Bake for about 15-20 until cheese is melted and starting to crisp up