LOW CALORIE AND HIGH PROTEIN SPINACH CANNELLONI
Cannelloni is a traditional Italian dish known for its cylindrical pasta tubes filled with a variety of delicious ingredients. I made a vegetarian version and as usual low calorie and high protein. To do so, I swapped the ricotta cheese with a low fat cottage cheese, and by limiting the quantity parmesan and mozzarella cheese, just enough to so that you can savor every bite in a guilt-free way!
Nutrition Per Serving
Calories: 462kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 34g | Fat: 15g
Ingredients
- 16 pieces cannelloni tubes
- 600 g spinach raw
- 500 g cottage cheese, low fat
- 50 g parmesan cheese
- 100 g shredded cheese
- nutmeg to taste
- fresh basil for garnish
For the marinara sauce
- 500 g tomato sauce
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion
- dried Italian herbs to taste
Video
Instructions
- Stir fry minced onion with a spray of olive oil until golden brown.
- Add in the tomatoe sauce, season with salt, pepper and Italian dry herbs. Simmer on low heat for 10-15min.
- Blanch the spinach in boiling water for few seconds and immediately soak in iced water few minutes to stop the cooking process.
- When cooled down, squeeze the spinach to remove excess of water as much as possible, and chop roughly.
- In a mixing bowl, put the chopped spinach, half of the cottage cheese, half of the grated Parmesan cheese and seasonings (salt, pepper, nutmeg) to your taste. Mix well until combined.
- Fill the cannelloni tubes with the spinach and cheese filling.
- In the bottom of an oven tray, put a layer of marinara sauce, then lay down the cannelloni. Add another layer of tomato sauce, then top with the rest of the cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese and shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Bake in the oven at 180C for 20min then broil for 10min to get that golden crust.
- Before serving, garnish with fresh basil leaves and enjoy!
