While flipping through my current issue of Real Simple, I saw a recipe for Cheesy Baked Pasta with Spinach and Artichokes (228 April). Their recipe topped out at 491 calories. This seemed like a lot to me, so I decided to see if I could do any better. Disclaimer – I hate wheat pasta, so I don’t use it. You could certainly make this even better by using wheat/whole grain pasta.

Usually when I make a recipe and I want to know the calorie break down I use www.sparkrecipes.com. I highly suggest it.

Ingredients:

• Parmesan Cheese, grated, 1 oz shredded
  Romano Cheese, 3 oz shredded
  Spaghetti/Marinara Sauce (tomato sauce), 4 cups
  Garlic, 3 cloves – Diced
  Onions, 1/4 cup diced 
  Red Pepper Flakes – 1 tablespoon
  Spinach, frozen, 1 package (10 oz) yields – defrosted
  Ricotta cheese, fat-free, 5 oz
  Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 2 tbsp
  Artichoke hearts canned, 14 oz  roughly chopped
  Pasta uncooked, 14 oz (I used lined ziti)

Process

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Start the water for the pasta – cook until Al Dente
3. Sautee the olive oil, onion, and garlic
4. Next add the drained spinach, artichokes and red pepper to the garlic and onion
5. After everything is heated, add half the jar of sauce, stir
6. When the pasta is done, spread half of the veggie mixture in the bottom of a pan. Next add a layer of pasta, and dollops of ricotta. Repeat.
7. Cover the top layer with the extra sauce and the grated cheese.
8. Heat in the oven 12 – 15 minutes or until cheese is browned.

The final calorie count was 365 that is 126 saved calories. I think I’ll take it.