veggie parmesan bake
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| veggie parmesan bake |
you'll love this delicious pasta bake full of flavorful vegetables and broad egg noodles. it's not exactly super food but it's a much healthier alternative to my typical home baked mac & cheese! it's loaded with green spinach and the carbs are cut in half by substituting crunchy cauliflower for half of the pasta.
prep time: 20 mins
bake time: 25 mins
ingredients:
- 1/2 lb egg noodles
- 1/2 head cauliflower, florets sliced
- 1 box frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- 1/2 lb button mushrooms, sliced in quarters
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- olive oil
- 1 cup fresh grated parmesan
- 1/2 cup grated jalepeno cheddar
- 1/2 cup low fat shredded mozzeralla
- 1/4 teaspoon roasted red pepper flakes
- 1 cup skim milk
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1/4 cup italian bread crumbs
- salt & pepper
pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. get your hot water boiling with a few pinches of kosher salt in a large pot. start grating, mincing and chopping while you wait for water to come to temp. boil off the egg noodles until el dente, drain and set aside.
in a saute pan over medium heat, add two tablespoons of olive oil and drop one clove minced garlic. and add mushrooms and saute until mushrooms become tender. once the edges start to show a caramel color, season with salt and pepper, pull them off the heat and set aside.
repeat same process as above with spinach and cauliflower. these items can be cooked together, you just want to be sure they stay on the heat long enough to infuse flavor into the entire mixture. this should take about 10 or 15 minutes.
while spinach and cauliflower are cooking, bring the milk to a low simmer over medium heat in a large pot. whisk in flour and add two tablespoons of butter. once mixture is combined, add in red pepper flakes and grated cheeses, keeping 1/2 cup parmesan seperate. continue to whisk mixture, adding additional milk if necessary, until you reach a thick, creamy consistency. now add cooked vegetables, pasta and stir all together. taste your mixture and season with additional salt or red pepper flakes if necessary.
spray oven safe dish with non-stick cooking spray and transfer mixture over. sprinkle remainder of paremsan and bread crumbs on top of mixture and dot a few pieces of butter to create a crusty topping. cook for 20 minutes with foil loosely placed on top. when mixture looks delicious and bubble, pull the foil, turn up to broil and let the top of the bake brown off to make a golden crust.
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