November 13, 2011

Cabot 4 Cheese Kale Chicken Pasta

For a special Friday night celebration, I decided to create a new recipe.  I wanted to incorporate kale and cheese and came up with this recipe.  Also, Cabot sent me some of their cheese to review so I used that to test out. Cabot is a company that sells different cheddar cheeses and has 50% reduced fat and 75% reduced fat cheeses.  I wanted to try out the 75% reduced fat first to see how that cheese would melt and if it had enough flavor or not. The result? It turned out amazing!

A little bit about the 50% reduced fat Cabot cheese:  Cabot's Reduced Fat Cheddars keep winning in taste tests nationwide. Why? Because we know how to craft great cheddar. One 1-oz serving has just 70 calories & 4.5g fat.  Also, the 75% reduced fat cheese has 60 calories and is not rubbery like many lower fat cheeses.
4 Cheese Kale Chicken Pasta
Serves: 6-8                Prep time: 10 minutes       Cook time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
1 lb pasta (I used a gluten free corn pasta)
3 chicken breasts
2 mini red onions
3 garlic cloves
8 ounces of kale (I used a Cut N' Clean Greens kale salad that also had carrots in it)
2 cups raw spinach
16 ounces low-fat cottage cheese
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 cup goat cheese
1/2 block 75% reduced fat Cabot cheese
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions:
1. Boil water and add pasta.
2. Meanwhile, saute chicken breasts, garlic, and onions in a pan.
3. When pasta is almost fully cooked, add kale and spinach to pot.
4. Cook for 2 minutes and drain water.
5. Slice chicken into bit sized pieces.
6. Combine chicken, pasta, vegetables, red pepper flakes and cottage, Parmesan, and goat cheeses. Mix well in a baking dish.
7. Grate Cabot cheese and top the pasta mix with grated cheese.
8. Broil for 5 minutes until Cabot cheese is melted and slightly browned.
Enjoy! I dare you to try to just eat one serving of this. It is so good that it's hard to not eat more!

The verdict on the Cabot cheese? It was great! It melted very well and gave the pasta a nice white cheddar flavor.  The only negative thing about it is when I ate it plain and unmelted, it did not have as much flavor as the full fat cheese. I would definitely cook with the reduced fat Cabot cheeses but would probably leave the cheese and crackers to the full fat cheese or the 50% reduced fat. Overall, I was impressed on how a cheese so low in fat could melt and taste good just like a higher fat cheese.

Disclaimer: I was sent free Cabot cheese for review. All opinions and recipe are my own.

Share this post:

Comments

  1. This looks really good! I love the many colors and textures in this meal!

    ReplyDelete
  2. So many of my favorite foods in one place! Love this recipes. And on behalf of the farm families who own Cabot, thanks for including us. We sincerely appreciate the support!

    Regan Jones, RD
    Cabot Creamery Cooperative

    ReplyDelete

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you thought of this post! I read and appreciate all comments.