Let’s be honest, I love adding veggies to everything, but I really love adding veggies to pasta because they taste even better with a good sauce on them and it feels like you’re getting a huge serving of pasta! You could definitely add other veggies to this, but I know these two turn out great!
Hate cottage cheese?
I love it, but I understand not everyone does! Cottage cheese adds lots of extra protein and gives this pasta a cheesy taste and texture without adding a lot of cheese. It gets melted and you can’t even tell it’s cottage cheese. But if you really don’t like cottage cheese, then I would run the cottage cheese through a blender or food processor to make it creamier before adding it to the dish!
Healthy Cheesy Baked Pasta
What you need:
4 oz whole wheat rotini pasta
4 Italian chicken sausages, sliced into coins
2 red bell peppers, sliced thin
Olive oil
1 tsp Garlic powder
1/2 tsp Pepper
4 oz baby spinach
2 cups cottage cheese
3 cups marinara
Parmesan cheese, as desired
What you’ll do:
1. Cook pasta according to package.
2. Chop sausage and pepper.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Brown sausage in a large skillet over medium high heat. Set aside.
5. Add olive oil to pan, just enough to coat the bottom. Sauté peppers with garlic powder and black pepper.
6. In a large bowl, mix together pasta, sausage, peppers, spinach, cottage cheese, and marinara. Place in 13×9 baking dish. Or if your lazy like me just mix it directly in the baking dish. Make sure the pasta is covered with some sauce so they don’t dry out.
7. Top with Parmesan cheese, as much as desired.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until it starts to bubble.
9. Serve with a side salad or roasted veggies. And maybe even some garlic bread if that sounds good to you!
Healthy with Hannah 