nutritious baked pasta for lunch

my bologna has a first name...

These days I'm working in Laurel, Maryland at a school, and this might come as a surprise, but there aren't tons of lunch options in the area. Good thing I love sandwiches. Here you might think I'm going to say "but I get sick of them" - but that's totally not the case. I really, really love sandwiches. Anything between two pieces of bread and I'm sold. My issue is usually that I run out of cold cuts - because I make sandwiches like New Yorkers do... with five times the meat in the middle.

So when I want something super easy and I have a bunch of fresh vegetables hanging out in the fridge, I literally throw it all together et voila - pasta. My eyes glaze over a bit when my trusty food magazine blasts come out and tell me that they have a "recipe for baked pasta," because let me give you a hint - cook all the components, mix, put it into a pan, bake for 40 minutes. Don't forget the cheese. That should get you pretty far.

Since I had some sausage I wanted to use, I did go buy some cottage cheese to offset the greasiness. I bought nonfat, because they only had full or non... but I'd go with 2% if they had it. Nonfat cottage cheese is too diety-tasting for me. Also, while I'm not a big proponent of frozen veg, I wanted to add some spinach but it was exorbitantly expensive. In this case, frozen spinach will do just fine since it's being cooked to death anyway - and it adds supervitamins, or something like that.

                            

baked bowties with sausage, spinach, tomatoes, and mushrooms 

(or whatever you prefer)

should feed 4-6 for lunch, unless you keep eating the crispy bits on top as it cools (who does that?!)

3/4 lb bowties or any other short pasta, cooked al dente and drained

1/2 lb ground sausage, casings removed, or ground beef, or chicken chunks, or nothing...

large pinch of dried hot peppers, if desired

1 large onion, sliced

1/2 of a 12oz container mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

handful of spinach, fresh or frozen is fine - if fresh, give it a few rough chops

a pint of grape/cherry tomatoes, halved or 2 cups of tomato sauce/diced canned tomatoes

1 lb container 2% cottage cheese or part-skim ricotta

5oz diced mozzarella

generous handful of grated parmesan (REAL parmesan, please)

Preheat the oven to 375F. 

In as big of a pan as you can find, cook the sausage until cooked through over medium-high heat, breaking it up as you go along. Add the dried hot peppers. When the sausage is nearly done, throw in the onions. Cook the onions til they're soft, and move to the side of the pan. Throw in mushrooms and garlic, and cook for a minute or two. Add the frozen spinach or fresh chopped spinach and a big pinch of salt and stir. After the spinach wilts, in a minute or so, add the tomatoes and toss until combined. 

In a large bowl, or in the pan if space allows, add the drained pasta, the veg/sausage mix, and cottage cheese. Stir until thoroughly combined and then TASTE IT. This is basically what it's going to taste like, so add some salt and pepper as you prefer. 

In a greased casserole dish, greased being the operating word because no one wants to clean a cheesy mess, pour half the pasta. Sprinkle on half the mozzarella evenly, then put the rest of the pasta on, and top with the remaining mozzarella and a good coating of parmesan cheese. Bake until it's nice and brown on top, about 40-45 minutes. Let cool, seriously, about 10 minutes before serving. Try not to eat the whole top off.

Notes:You can really do this with whatever you have in your fridge. I'd definitely keep the onions, garlic, and real parmesan for the top. I can't stress how important it is that the parmesan is not the kind you can keep at room temp and it'll be ok. It pains me that I even have to bring that up. Also, having some kind of cheese/tomato sauce/bechamel as a binder is important. The meat and vegetables can be whatever your heart desires - or the odds and ends that are left of your vegetables and leftover meat.