Creamy Baked Lentil Pasta

 This is a take on a lasagna dish, it isn't a direct translation but it will remind you of one. It consists of a meaty lentil sauce with a creamy cheese sauce. If you are wanting a nice hearty, filling meal that is quick to make, this is one is for you! This could even be a dish you serve to visitors that eat meat because it is that yummy! My boyfriend took a portion to work and let his friends, who eat meat, try it and they said that it was very yummy. To me, it's a real winner when people I don't know say they like my food!

What's really nice about this dish is that the ingredients are super easy to find and aren't expensive (besides the cheese spread). This is because you can actually leave out the cheese sauce if either your Woolworths store doesn't have them or it is out of your budget. You don't have to use this cheese sauce recipe, you can change it for one you either have or one that suits the ingredients you have on hand.

Please remember that any portions of the ingredients can be altered according to taste. These are just the portions I used to make my dish, this can just be used as a template. You could add more veggies if you would like, the recipe makes a lot of sauce so no need to compensate for the addition. Please let me know if you have added anything to change the dish, I would love to try it!

Ingredients:

Meat sauce:

- 1 onion
- 3 cloves garlic (or 2 Tbsp garlic)
- 1/4 cup celery or 1 stalk
- 1 1/2 cups mushrooms
- 1 Jar of store bought tomato pasta sauce (or use a tin of chopped tomato or a tinned Italian tomato sauce)
- 1 tin of lentils (or the equivalent of cooked lentils)
- 150g pasta of your choice - I used small shells
- Seasoning: sage, basil, salt, pepper and garlic powder (optional)

Cheese sauce:

- 1 carton of Cheese spread from Woolworths
- 2-3 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1-2 Tbsp nutritional yeast


Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Boil a pot of water and cook pasta.
3.Chop onion, garlic, celery, and mushrooms finely.
4. Place pan with either oil or a bit of water and cook onions and garlic until translucent. Then add the celery and mushrooms and cook until soft.
5. Add the tomato sauce and lentils.
6. Season to taste and cook until its thickens.
7. Then add the cooked pasta to the sauce and stir until well combined.
8. Place pasta mixture into baking dish
9. Mix the cheese spread, lemon juice, and nutritional yeast with a fork until it is smooth and runny.
10. Pour the sauce over the pasta dish.
11. Place into the oven for 10 minutes
12. Serve and enjoy!