Tonight's Dinner: Low Fat Baked Spinach Rigatoni

I adapted this from Looneyspoons by Janet & Greta Podleski. They call it "Totally Tubular Pasta".

This serves 4-6 easily

1 box rigatoni pasta (7 cups dry)

1/2 cup onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups tomato sauce (I used 1-28 oz can crushed tomatoes)

2 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce

2 tsp Splenda brown sugar

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp black pepper

3/4 cup cottage cheese (1% milkfat)

1/2 cup part skim ricotta cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1 egg white

1-10 oz pkg frozen spinach leaves, chopped

1/2 cup part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded*

1 tbsp parsley, chopped

Prepare rigatoni according to box. Cook for 2 minutes less than they say (for me it was 8 minutes). Pasta should be slightly undercooked. Rinse with cold water and drain again. Set aside.

Spray a medium saucepan with cooking spray. Add onions and garlic. Cook and stir over MED heat for 3-4 minutes. Add tomato sauce and net 6 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove fro heat.

Mix together cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese and egg white in a large bowl. Strain out all the liquid from the frozen thawed spinach (roll it in an old towel and twist the towel until all the spinach is dry). Add the spinach to the cheese mixture. Add rigatoni and mix well.

Spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray. Spread 1/2 cup of sauce on the bottom. Top with 1/2 of the rigatoni mixture. Pour 1/2 cup of sauce over that. Top with half of the mozzarella cheese and then repeat layering until you've used up all the ingredients. Sprinkle top with parsley if using. Cover and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. If desired, serve with additional parmesan cheese.

Nutritional breakdown: 376 calories per serving, 7.3g fat, 58.7g carb, 21g protein, 1118mg sodium, 17mg chol, Calories from Fat: 16.9%

RisaG