Powered up pasta recipe

So ther other morning I woke up feeling great, ready to go for a run. You know sometimes I am just like "yea, I'm going to run 10 miles" even though I have NEVER ran more than 3 miles in my life.....but I was feeling motivated...there is nothing wrong with that. So I get about...1/2 mile down the road and I am DYING. It felt like I had a ten pound brick on my chest while I'm trying to get my run on. So eventually I gave up and attributed it to the fact that I had slept in so late I missed breakfast and lunch and my body needed some substance in it! So naturally I launched right into making food.

I was craving pasta. I knew I needed some protein. I had no meat. What now. COTTAGE CHEESE TO THE RESCUE!

Here is what I came up with.

What you'll need:
Whole grain pasta (I used penne)
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup or so shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup or so shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 Tbsp fresh basil
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp flour
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup thawed frozen spinach
1/4 cup corn

1. Cook pasta according to package. This recipe makes enough sauce to cover about 2 servings of pasta.
2. While pasta is cooking in a small saucepan melt your butter over med heat with your minced garlic clove for about 1 minute. Add your flour and use a whisk to incorporate butter and flour to a paste. Keep stirring letting flour mixture cook for about 3 minutes. Turn burner down to low and slowly add milk to flour and whisk well until all clumps of flour are gone. This will begin to thicke
n and be the base for your cheese sauce. Now you can add your cottage cheese, cheddar cheese and mozzarella cheese. I kind of did a pinch of the shredded cheeses, its up to you how cheesy you want your mac. Season sauce with salt and pepper.
3. Add your basil to the cheese sauce. Thaw spinach and corn if they are fozen and add them to the cheese sauce also.
4. Once everything is incorporated into your sauce and your pasta is cooked stir the sauce into the pasta and top with some panko if you like a little crunch on top.

Thank goodness for cottage cheese...only 80 cals in that 1/2 cup serving and BOOM 14 grams protein. Who needs chicken in their pasta...