Cottage Cheese Casserole

Cottage Cheese Casserole is one of those super budget friendly recipes that we have all tried at one time or another.

When my boys were young it was a challenge to make meals that were budget friendly, tasted good and filled three growing children (unless we had visitation then is was 6 kids). This Cottage Cheese Casserole really helped when I had to stretch the budget!

Granted I was using whole wheat pasta but for all intents and purposes it worked well for us at the time. Since beginning my Trim Healthy Mama Journey, I’ve switched over to using Dreamfields Pasta about once every 2 weeks or so, and Wonder Wrap pasta for dishes like this. I have made this with Sprouted whole wheat pasta for a great E meal.

This recipe is so easy to change up and make into any of the Trim Healthy Mama meals, you can check out what those are in the Trim Healthy Mama Plan Book if you aren’t already following that way of eating.

If you are using this outside the THM plan then be mindful that many times pasta will spike your blood sugars and that is really a bad thing. Using an alternative like sprouted whole grain pasta or even just whole wheat pasta in place of the store bought white pastas that are available will really help. And if you follow Keto or a lower carb lifestyle just make some egg wraps and cut them up to replace the pasta all-together.

If you are wondering what Wonder Wrap pasta is or where to find that recipe well it is on page 204 of the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook and I just make the family size recipe and cut them into strips so that they mimic pasta.

I do have a Homemade Pasta Dough recipe. But in all honesty I haven’t tried it in this recipe.

Back to the Cottage Cheese Casserole

I did make notations within the recipe on how to change this from a satisfying S meal into an energizing E meal or a Fuel Pull main dish. If you are changing things up be mindful of the fat content so that it doesn’t go over the recommended limits in E or FP meals per serving.

Keeping it on the lighter side

I love adding more cheese to this but sometimes things on the lighter side really are best, especially when it’s hot out. You can change up the vegetables and the cheeses to suit your family as needed, just try and stick with non starchy veggies so that they fill you up without adding a bunch of extra carbs.

Here’s the recipe for My Cottage Cheese Casserole

5 from 1 reviews

Cottage Cheese Casserole

 

Author: Judy Witherby

Nutrition Information

• Serves: 6

• Serving size: 1 cup
• Calories: 256

Recipe type: casserole

Prep time:  15 mins

Cook time:  4 hours

Total time:  4 hours 15 mins

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Ingredients

• 2½ teaspoons butter (use coconut oil cooking spray for E or FP meals)
• ½ cup mushroom (chopped)
• ½ cup onions (chopped)
• ½ cup celery (chopped)
• ½ cup zucchini (chopped)
• ½ cup nopales (diced)
• 1 clove garlic (minced)
• ½ teaspoon dried marjoram
• ⅔ cup tomato paste
• 2 cups uncooked ( Dreamfields pasta or Wonder Wrap pasta to keep this within plan limits for S meals)
• 1¼ cups water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sweetener, I used ¼ tsp THM Super Sweet Blend
• ¼ cup parsley (chopped)
• 16 ounces low-fat cottage cheese
• ⅓ cup Parmesan cheese (grated)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella, optional for an S meal
• 2 pounds browned and rinsed ground beef or Turkey, optional for an S meal

Instructions

1. Saute mushrooms, onions, celery, nopales (cactus leaves)and garlic in a large skillet with the butter.
2. Combine tomato paste, marjoram, water, macaroni, salt sweetener and vegetables.
3. Put ½ of this mixture in the bottom of crockpot.
4. Top with 1 cup cottage cheese and ½ of the Parmesan cheese. Repeat Layers.
5. Cook on high for 4 hours.

If using an Instant Pot I cooked on *normal on the slow cooker setting for 2 hours.

I have also baked this at 350 for 1 hour and it came out just right.

Notes

** If using Wonder Wraps reduce water to ¾ cup or it is more like a soup than a casserole.

3.5.3251

I did make this in my Instant Pot Duo60 just like this one.

I absolutely love this kitchen tool! It saves so much time and effort in prepping foods for our journey. It is a 6 quart multi cooker with 7 functions. I make yogurt, cheese, steamed eggs and the list just keeps growing.

So add this to your wish list!!