Healthy Cottage Cheese Pasta Bake With Veggies

• servings: 4 servings
• active time: 10 minutes
• total time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

3 cups penne pasta, dry (or other short pasta shape)

2 Tbsp olive oil

4 large cloves garlic, minced

2 cups broccoli florets (about 5 ounces or 142 grams)

3 cups baby spinach (tightly packed! or 3 large handfuls)

2 cups cottage cheese, 2%MF (500 gram or 17 ounce container)

2 cups marinara (or other tomato sauce)

1 cup shredded mozzarella

Salt + pepper, to taste

5 large leaves fresh basil, chopped (to garnish)

Directions

PREP: Preheat oven to 400F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. While you wait, you can chop broccoli into florets and mince garlic.

Cook pasta to al dente, according to package instructions. Drain when finished.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a pan over medium-high. Add minced garlic and broccoli florets, and sauté for about 7 minutes. Then, add spinach and continue to cook until it wilts. Remove from heat.

To a large baking dish, add cooked pasta, cooked broccoli and spinach, cottage cheese, and marinara sauce. Season generously with salt and pepper, then stir everything together until well-combined.

Sprinkle shredded mozzarella overtop, coating the pasta evenly.

Place baking dish in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the top layer of cheese is melted and nicely browned. Garnish with fresh basil and serve hot!

Nutrition

• Calories: 595 kcal
• Total Fat: 16 g
• Saturated Fat: 6 g
• Cholesterol: 27 mg
• Sodium: 1254 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 78 g
• Dietary Fiber: 6 g
• Total Sugars: 11 g
• Protein: 35 g