Healthy Vegetarian Pasta Bake

What on earth do you do when you’re bumping up against the end of the food shopping cycle and find yourself stumped for dinner options?!

It seems like there’s nothing in the fridge or in the pantry, and there are some hungry family members wandering aimlessly about, moaning like the zombie apocolypse has begun.

Before they reach the salt and pepper and start to season me, or before my head combusts from jibberish overload*, quick thinking is required to restore balance to the household.

* they’re not that bad, honest!

Mums understand the old adage that necessity is the mother of all invention quite well, but it always helps to have some leftovers to really get the creative juices flowing.

A couple of weeks ago I had some leftover spelt pasta in the fridge that needed eating. Combining it with a few regular fridge staples, a hearty, delicious dinner was served with super-nutritious eggs, the hero of the dish. The family was fed, I was saved from the wrath of the living dead, and we could all approach witching hour with the tiny morsel of knowledge that at least our bellies were full and satisfied 🙂

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Spelt pasta
Chicken stock
Nutmeg
Basil/Parsley

Healthy Vegetarian Pasta Bake

Brenda Janschek

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Ingredients

  

• 150 gms spelt pasta shapes or gluten-free pasta, cooked al dente
• 6 pastured or organic eggs
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1/2 cup homemade chicken stock optional boost of nutrition for the non vegetarians
• 150 grams baby spinach chopped
• 1/2 grated cheddar cheese
• 150 g feta
• 2-3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• pinch nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon butter or ghee
• 2 tablespoons fresh herbs I used basil & parsley

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 170 degrees celcius
• Grease a pie dish with butter and scatter pasta in dish
• Melt butter or ghee in frying pan and gently saute garlic on low heat for a minute
• Throw in baby spinach and lightly saute for for an extra minute. Turn heat off.
• Lightly beat the eggs in a medium bowl then add the cream, stock (if using), herbs, nutmeg, garlic and spinach mixture and cheese and combine well
• Pour the mixture over the pasta and crumble the feta over the top
• Bake for approx 30 minutes
• Make sure the eggs are set and the feta is slightly browned. If you need to, place dish back in oven for a further 5-10 minutes.

Notes

Serve with a big garden salad.
The leftovers are perfect when warmed up, placed in a thermos and sent to school the next day. It's always a great idea to make extra for lunchboxes and my kids loved it in theirs!

If you make this recipe and share on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek.

Otherwise feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook.

Some other delicious dinner recipes you might like are Garlic Prawns and Coconut Rice and Healthy Lasagna.