This recipe is straight from Laura Lea Goldberg’s healthy and delicious blog, LL Balanced and part of our SB Challenge “Back to the Table” where we feature seven recipes each Sunday, for three weeks, and challenge our readers to gather around a home-cooked meal each night! Her cookbook is wildly popular and available right here for $20.40. With a whopping 380+ reviews and average five-star rating, this is a cookbook you’ll love using time and again. We highly recommend buying it as well as subscribing to LL Balanced for recipes that you’ll enjoy.
For this recipe, Laura Lea says, “Y’all know I promote and use high-quality, humanely sourced proteins. However, I also believe that most of us should be working towards incorporating more plant-based meals. [In this recipe, you’ll find] all kinds of satisfying protein and fiber from the Banza noodles, Kite Hill cream cheese, lentils and veggies; you won’t miss the meat! This recipe does require a few steps, but none are difficult, and it makes a TON of food. So your hard work will be rewarded many times over! Plus, this recipe freezes beautifully.”
If you make this dish, please tag Laura Lea on Instagram at @lauraleabalanced, StyleBlueprint at @styleblueprint and use the hashtags #sbchallenge #mySBplate. We want to cheer you on!
Enjoy the recipe, and if you’d like more tips about it, or to find out where the original inspiration came from and all the amazing comments and questions about it, be sure to check out the original post on LL Balanced right here.
SB note: for Banza pasta, use this link to find a location near you that sells this brand. For example, we were pleasantly surprised to find it in the healthy foods section at Kroger!
Cheesy Lentil Bolognese Bake
Ingredients
- 7 ounces noodles of choice I use Banza fusili
- 2 cups sweet potato peeled & diced into 1/4" pieces (approx 1/2 large sweet potato)
- 1 1/2 cups carrots peeled & diced into 1/4" pieces (approx 2 medium carrots)
- 1 cup yellow onion diced into 1/2" pieces (approx 1/2 large onion)
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup low-sodium Tamari sub low sodium soy sauce or coconut aminos
- 1 6 oz can tomato paste
- 3/4 cup plain Kite Hill Cream Cheese sub regular cream cheese
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil sub melted coconut oil, brands linked below
- 1 15 ounce can diced organic tomatoes
- 2 cans brown lentils
- Rinse and drain one can & just drain the other
- 3 packed cups grated grass-fed cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Cook pasta al dente according to package directions, then rinse and cool (al dente is a few minutes less than recommended. Should still be a little chewy). Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and grab a 9.5x13.5x2 casserole dish.
- Chop sweet potato and carrot and place in a sauce pot. Add water to cover then bring to a boil. Once boiling, boil for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside. Dice onion and mince garlic. Set aside. In small bowl, whisk together paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, black pepper and coconut sugar. Set aside. In a high powered blender, puree tamari, tomato pasta, cream cheese and water. Set aside.
- Heat a large wide pot to medium heat and add oil. When oil moves quickly around the pan, add sweet potatoes, carrots and diced onion. Cook, stirring every minute or so, until onions are softened and translucent. You can add splashes of water to the pan as necessary to prevent browning/sticking. The takes about 6-8 minutes.
- Add minced garlic and spice/coconut sugar mixture and stir to incorporate evenly. Cook another 2-3 minutes, again adding splashes of water as necessary, until garlic is softened and fragrant. Add tomato paste/cream cheese mixture, can of diced tomatoes and both cans of lentils. Stir to incorporate evenly, then allow to cook another 5 minutes. Mixture should be thick and bubbling around the edges. Remove from heat and allow to cool while you grate cheese.
- Assemble Casserole: Add 1/2 of your lentil mixture to the bottom and spread in an even layer. Top with 1/2 of your al dente noodles, then 1/2 of your grated cheese. Repeat with remaining goodness. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbling around the edges. Note that some of the noodles will get crunchy, which is my favorite part! Optional: Before removing from the oven, broil until some of the cheese turns golden brown on top.
Nutrition
See six more recipes, that are all part of our week-one SB healthy dinner challenge, below where it says “More Articles You’ll Love.”
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