I picked up some pressed cottage cheese/twaróg in my last produce basket. I figure it's high protein, low fat, and packs a decent amount of calcium, so why not?

This recipe didn't specifically call for pressed cottage cheese, but I figured either would probably be fine. I upped the water a little bit when I made it to compensate for the drier cheese. I don't think I needed to though. There was plenty of liquid and I actually ended up having to bake my casserole for a bit longer than called for to get it to set up properly. And, despite my liquid difficulties, I do quite like how it came out! The texture of the pressed cheese is fantastic. I would definitely use it again.

I was a little shy on tomato sauce. The original recipe called for 4 cups, which is about 945mL. I had a 796mL tin of tomatoes and just used that as the base for my sauce. This worked fine, but I think it would've been nice with a bit more sauce. That said, I'd hate to open two tins for it. I think next time I might try to use an 828mL tin of tomatoes + a tablespoon or two of tomato paste. Hopefully that will give good flavour with minimum effort or complication.

Cottage Cheese Pasta Bake

Adapted from A Mind "Full" Mom

Ingredients

• 250g dry short pasta (rotini, radiatori, cavitapi, etc.)
• 1 (540mL) tin cannellini beans (white kidney beans), drained and rinsed
• 2 c. frozen chopped kale
• 1 c. shredded mozzarella (add a little Parmesan if you like)
• 500g pressed cottage cheese (twaróg), crumbled
• 800-950mL tomato sauce¹
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• ~1/4 c. chopped fresh basil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a 23x33cm (9x13") baking pan.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the pasta, cooking 2-3 minutes less than package instructs.
3. Reserve 1/2 c. of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta and set aside.
4. Return the pasta to the empty pot and add the drained beans, kale, and both kinds of cheese.
5. Mix well, then add th tomato sauce, eggs, reserved pasta water, and basil.
6. Pour everything into the prepared pan. (Top with up to 1 c. of additional cheese if you would like it extra-cheesey.)
7. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30 minutes.

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¹ I usually make my own tomato sauce from either whole or diced tinned tomatoes. I just did a very quick, no-cook sauce for this: 800mL tomatoes, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. chopped dried garlic, 1 tsp. chopped dried onion, 1/2 tsp. dried oregano, 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning, 1 tsp. dried basil, 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper, and 1/2 tsp. dasida. (Basically just raiding the spice cabinet and tossing in whatever smelled good.) As noted, next time I'd add a Tbsp. or two of tomato paste, but this worked fine for my purposes. ^Back