Monday, October 18, 2010

Meatless Pasta Bake

The other meatless meal we had was a version of a pasta bake that I have made and love.
This one -  Creamy Chicken Pasta Bake.

I followed the recipe but instead of adding chicken I added red lentils and a few other things...

This is not my photo either, but again, it looked pretty much like this.
Serves 4

Get This -

250g dried macaroni pasta
100g baby spinach leaves
300ml light thickened cream
3/4 cup semi-dried tomatoes
1/2 punnet cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
1 tablespoon capers
1/3 cup red lentils
1/2 small block fetta
1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Do This -
  1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly grease a 5cm-deep, 20cm x 28cm (base), 8-cup capacity baking dish.
  2. Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling, salted water for 10 minutes or until tender.
  3. Cook lentils in boiling water until tender.
  4. Drain pasta and lentils and return to saucepan. Add spinach, cream, dried tomatoes, tomatoes, capers, fetta and 1 cup parmesan. Toss until well combined. Season with salt and pepper.
  5. Spoon mixture into prepared dish. Top with mozzarella and remaining parmesan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden. Spoon pasta bake onto serving plates. Serve.

Meatless Burritos

We are attempting to eat less meat by having a couple of meat free dinners a week.
So last week I tweaked a couple of favourite dinners into meat free versions.

The first one was burritos which we have usually once a week with chicken or mince.

Last week I made them this way...


Not my photo but they looked kind of like this

Get This -

Burrito kit
can four (or five from Aldi) beans
tomatoes
onion
lettuce
cheese
sour cream or plain yogurt

Do This -

Fry chopped onion and tomatoes in small amount of oil
Add drained beans
Stir in sachet of burrito mix with water
Heat burrito wraps as per directions on the box
Roll up bean mix, cheese, salad, sauce and sour cream.

We didn't even miss the meat!