Cottage Cheese Spinach Pasta is quick, simple, healthy and perfect for lunch box recipe ideas. It can be prepared a day ahead and refrigerated for next day’s use. It has good amount of protein, calcium, potassium and many more minerals and vitamins along with the right amount of fiber.
Pasta again!!!! Its mine and Yashvi’s favorite cuisine. We can eat it in any form and at any time of the day.
Yes, sometimes we do indulge in pasta dishes for our breakfast. It’s our comfort food and I know it’s the same for many of you. Yet sometimes we control ourselves to keep a check on our healthy eating.
This recipe is quite regular for Yashvi’s lunch box. whenever I pack this pasta recipe for her, the lunch box definitely comes back empty. I can’t stop smiling to myself.
Since we all are gearing ourselves for ‘back to school’ regime I thought of sharing this 15 minutes pasta recipe for school lunch box meal idea.
Ingredients for Cottage Cheese Spinach Pasta
Olive oil
Dried garlic
Dried basil
Baby spinach
Low fat cottage cheese
Mozzarella cheese (shredded)
Julienned carrots
Salt
Crushed black pepper
Whole wheat elbow pasta (cooked)
Difference between American and Indian cottage cheese
There is a slight difference between American cottage cheese and paneer (Indian cottage cheese). The American cottage cheese and paneer may be quite similar in taste but American cottage cheese is more liquid and greasy as compared to paneer. We drain excess water from paneer and make it firm. On the other side American cottage is mushy and extra soft which does not harden even after draining excess water. American Cottage Cheese is a great source of protein and calcium and easy to cook. I used American Cottage Cheese for this recipe because of its taste and texture along with health benefits and its super easy nature of getting cooked.
Easy cooking steps for Cottage Cheese Spinach Pasta
In the first step, I flavored the warm oil with garlic and basil.
Then, immediate sauteed spinach until it became soft.
Thereafter, I added cottage cheese and mozzarella cheese to the pan and sauteed it well.
Afterwards, I added carrots to it.
Lastly, I tossed in pasta and seasoned it with salt and pepper.
To enhance the fiber and nutrition content of this recipe I used 100% whole wheat macaroni pasta. It took a few simple steps to cook this scrumptious recipe.
Tips for flavoring
When cooking for kids top this dish with some melted butter. As for adults we can keep it to olive oil to maintain our healthy weight. 🙂
Cottage Cheese Spinach Pasta
Ingredients
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp dried garlic
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 1/2 cups baby spinach (finely chopped)
- 1 cup low fat American cottage cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup julienned carrots
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp crushed black pepper
- 2 cups whole wheat elbow pasta (cooked)
Instructions
- Heat oil in a nonstick pan and add garlic and basil.
- Immediately add spinach and saute for a minute or till spinach starts to release its water.
- Add cottage cheese and mozzarella cheese to the pan and mix very well so that the spinach is well coated.
- Just when the cottage cheese releases its liquid add carrots and mix well.
- Add salt, pepper and pasta and mix very well.
- Cook open for 2 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
- Use American Cottage Cheese for this recipe.
- For kids just top this recipe with melted butter and for adults keep it as is so as to avoid saturated fats in your diet.
Nutrition
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Sara says
Another amazing recipe! You rock. Pinned this!
Ali A says
Oh, wow. This looks SO good. I may be in the minority here – but I LOVE cottage cheese. I just eat in plain or I actually make scrambled eggs with it mixed in. I’d never think to make a pasta dinner with it but this looks amazing! Will definitely try.
Mary says
I love pasta, I just can’t get enough. You have another great pasta dish here!
April R - Uncookie Cutter says
I love this idea for lunchboxes! Perfect for back to school, and healthy to boot! I hope you post more of these, I’m pinning!
Ariel says
Looks super delicious! I’m not a huge fan of pasta, but I think I’m going to give this one a try!:) Thanks for sharing!
Yanique says
This dish will go over well with my pasta loving bunch! I’m not a fan of cottage cheese so we will see how this goes 🙂
Ronda says
I love pasta! I can eat it everyday. This recipe sounds delicious! thank you for sharing 🙂
Tirralan - Tinseltown Mom says
Wow, this looks so rich and amazing. My youngest would love this meal. I love your unique recipes.
Emily, Our house now a home says
This looks so good! I would never think to put the two together, however it looks like it is a great combination.
Kim @ This Ole Mom says
Your pasta recipe looks great and easy to make!
Tiffany says
I’ve never really tried cottage cheese, but it looks like a great complement for the pasta. I may have to experiment and try it!
Leslie says
We eat pasta all the time in our house! Love this variation! Can’t wait to try it!
Gunjan says
Thank you. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did it.
Danielle says
Fabulous lunch box idea! The fact that this pasta can be refrigerated makes it a perfect recipe for me, And I love how healthy it is, too.
Gunjan says
Totally. Make ahead recipes are my favorites too.
Cheese Curd In Paradise says
I am so curious about this recipe because I have not tried cottage cheese with pasta before. We are big cottage cheese lovers, and i’d love to try it like this!
Gunjan says
I would highly recommend you to give it a try. Its delicious and increases the nutrition content of pasta recipe.
Jo says
Such simple flavors but absolutely delicious! Love the spinach and paneer combo here.
Gunjan says
Thank you Jo for appreciating my recipe and enjoying it.
Liz says
Thank you for this recipe! Sorry if this is obvious, but is this eaten cold since it’s a lunch box/school meal? I’m always looking for things that can be eaten cold or room temperature since I don’t have a microwave while I’m working.
Gunjan says
Hi, its a great question and glad you asked it. I and my daughter like it at room temperature because we get the actual taste of cottage cheese. Some people like it a little warm. However, too hot or too cold won’t taste that good. Therefore, yes, its a lunch box box recipe which can be enjoyed at room temperature. Hope I was able to answer your question 🙂