Eat Skinny Be Skinny: Four-Cheese Baked Penne
PIN IT!I know what you’re thinking. “How can anything with four cheese in the title be healthy?” And honestly, I thought the same thing. But when I read through the ingredients and nutritional information, it all made sense. By using low-fat, part-skim, or fat-free cheese, you can slash your total calories and total fat in half. So my friends and fellow cheese-heads, don’t judge a book by a cover [or in this case, a recipe by it’s name!] You may be pleasantly surprised by how delicious, and healthy, a recipe can be! [Note, due to our crap-tastic camera, most of the photos did not turn out. Boo. So below are a mix of my photos and the photos I found with the recipe.] Recipe is courtesy of SELF.
Four Cheese Baked Penne
What You’ll Need:
- 1 1/2 cups small-curd fat free cottage cheese
- 1 1/4 cups shredded part-skim [or fat free] mozzarella
- 1 cup part-skim [or fat free] ricotta
- 1 pound whole-wheat penne
- 2-3 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 can (15 oz) crushed tomatoes
- 1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes [or chili powder]
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Olive oil cooking spray
- 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
How To Make It:
- Heat oven to 400°.
- Combine cottage cheese, 1/2 cup mozzarella, ricotta in a bowl.
- Cook pasta until tender but still firm; drain.
- Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Add garlic; cook, stirring, 30 seconds more. Add tomatoes, sauce, oregano, rosemary, salt, pepper flakes and pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat; simmer until sauce thickens slightly, about 10 minutes.
- Add pasta to the tomato mix ; turn off heat. Stir in cheese-parsley mixture.
- Coat a 9″ x 13″ glass baking dish with cooking spray; transfer pasta mixture to dish. Top with remaining 3/4 cup mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake until heated through and cheese melts, about 30 minutes.
Nutritional Information per serving: 400 calories, 11 g.m. fat, 24 g.m. protein
