Banza Pasta - Great Source Of Vegan ProteinBaked Banza Pasta With Kite Hill Vegan Ricotta

Baked Banza Rotini with Kite Hill almond ricotta
provides more than 20 grams of protein!

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Where do you get your Protein?
Whether you are a vegan who is darn sick of getting asked "where do you get your protein", or one of the many people who are looking for ways to get more protein in their diets from sources other than meat and dairy, I found a product you might be interested in.

Banza pasta is made from chickpeas. So it's gluten free and contains a boatload of protein and fiber. A two-ounce serving of Banza pasta has 14 grams of protein, 8 grams of dietary fiber, 3.5 grams of total fat, and only 24 net carbs. That's more protein that 2 large hard boiled eggs. Ounce for ounce, it provides as much protein as a steak! All this while having nearly half the net carbs of regular pasta.

It comes in various shapes. Shells are great in soup, elbows for vegan mac and cheese (see the mac and "cheese" recipe in my eBook, Health Begins in the Kitchen), and penne and rotini for various other delightful recipes. 

Shells, rotini, penne, and elbows

Banza shells in soup.

I'm not sure how long this offer is good for, but if you send a friend a $10 coupon, you'll get a $10 coupon of your own for each referral. That's two free boxes each. Forward THIS LINK or share it online.

One Warning
When you cook the Banza pasta, it makes a lot of foam. Remember, you are cooking beans and, like beans, they foam up. So make sure you cook them in a large pot of water and skim the foam off after it forms or it can easily boil over.

Banza pasta foams during cooking. Just skim it off.

Here's an easy recipe for baked Banza pasta with Kite Hill's new Almond Ricotta. Together the dish provides 23 grams of protein!

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Baked Banza Pasta with Kite Hill Ricotta
Vegan, Dairy Free, Gluten Free
[makes 4 servings]

Ingredients
Extra virgin olive oil for greasing the pan
Bunch of kale, ribs removed and thinly sliced*
1 (8-ounce) box of Banza rotini or penne
1 (8-ounce) tub of Kite Hill almond ricotta
2 cups prepared tomato sauce
Go Veggie Parmesan topping (optional)

* You can also use spinach.

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees C. Lightly grease a 7"x11" casserole dish with extra virgin olive oil.

Steam the kale until cooked, drain and set aside.

Cook the Banza pasta according to the directions on the package. Make sure you cook it in a large pot and skim the foam as it forms. When cooked, drain and return the hot pasta to the pot. 

Stir in the cooked kale. Then, break up the ricotta into teaspoon-size pieces and add to the pasta. Finally, stir in the tomato sauce.

Vegan Ricotta made from almond milk

Place in a casserole dish, top with Go Veggie parmesan topping or some nutritional yeast and bake until heated, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve!

Nutrition
Per serving: 399 calories, 16 g total fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 23 g protein, 50 g carbohydrates, 39 g net carbohydrates, 11 g dietary fiber, and 268 mg sodium (if using tomato sauce with no added salt.)

Update on Packaging
I just received an email from Team Banza that they are changing the product packaging. The product remains the same. Here's what the boxes now look like:

You can order directly from their WEBSITE.

Finally, A Ravioli That's Vegan And Dairy-FreeMade by Kite Hill

Kite Hill hits the jackpot with dairy-free, vegan ravioli.

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Ravioli
Over the past few years there has been great progress in vegan cheese products. Miyoko's collection of artisan vegan cheeses are amazing. I serve them every time I entertain. And I absolutely love Go Veggie's Parmesan Style Topping on my pasta. But we are just beginning to see companies use their yummy vegan cheeses in products, like ravioli. You might find a high-calorie, sugar-ladened cheese cake, but not a lot of delicious and relatively healthy products that you feel good about serving for dinner. 

Happily, Kite Hill has come out with several ravioli products using her almond-based ricotta. Last night we enjoyed Mushroom and Ricotta ravioli with a simple tomato sauce that I canned from last summer's tomatoes. It was absolutely wonderful! I am allergic to dairy and haven't been able to eat ravioli in years so I can't tell you how excited I was to see this product on the shelves at my local Whole Foods market. She also makes a spinach and ricotta ravioli which I will be on the lookout for next. 

The filling contains a combination of portobello and shiitake mushrooms whipped together with almond milk ricotta and marsala wine. The pasta is made from durham wheat (sorry guys, it's not gluten free.) But for those of you who are avoiding soy and dairy, you will find no better ravioli. 

Each 1-cup serving is 230 calories (there are 2.5 servings in container) so if you and a guest knock off the whole container (which is about the right amount to eat), you'll be eating about 288 calories. Not bad with a simple tomato sauce topping. Each serving also contains 6 grams of total fat, no saturated fat or cholesterol, 7 grams of protein, 34 grams of carbs, 2 grams of dietary fiber and 490 mg per serving. 

I can't wait to try the spinach and ricotta!

Kite Hill products are available at Whole Foods Market stores nationwide. Here's a store locator.

Enjoy!

Vegetarian Stuffed Patty Pan Squash with Curried Ricotta, Dates, Apples and Walnuts

Hollow out the middle of the patty pan squash.

Comparing the Fat Content of Ricotta Cheese

This stuffed patty pan squash recipe can be made with any type of ricotta cheese depending on your nutritional goals and of course, how pleasing the dish is to your palate.

While developing this recipe I experimented with both low fat and part skim ricotta cheese. The low fat version was quite delicious but lacked a bit in appearance. Part skim ricotta had a bit more structure as you would expect with a little over twice the fat content. If I were making this for me and my husband, I would make it with the low fat cheese. If I were entertaining and more interested in appearance, I'd use the part skim. It's still pretty low in calories and saturated fat.

I would not recommend using the fat free ricotta unless your doctor has you on a strict, no fat diet. I tried it years ago in a lasagna recipe and it was tasteless and had no texture. I haven't used it again since. I also wouldn't make the recipe with whole milk ricotta because of the very high fat content, especially when you can get almost that kind of smoothness with the part skim.

Let me share the nutritional content of all four so you can compare and decide, depending on your requirements, which ricotta you will use when you make this recipe or other recipes requiring ricotta (like lasagna, manicotti or stuffed shells).

Nutritional Content for 1/4 Cup Ricotta (Precious Brand)

Fat Free - 45 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 15 g cholesterol, 6 g protein, 4 g carbohydrates and 0 g of fiber. Provides 20% daily value of calcium.

Low Fat - 50 calories, 2.0 g fat, 1.0 g saturated fat, 15 mg cholesterol, 6 g protein, 4 g carbohydrates and 1 g of fiber. Provides 15% daily value of calcium.

Part skim - 80 calories, 4.5 g fat, 2.5 g saturated fat, 30 mg cholesterol, 5 g protein, 4 g carbohydrates and 0 g of fiber. Provides 15% daily value of calcium.

Whole milk - 110 calories, 9 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 40 mg cholesterol, 5 g protein, 2 g carbohydrates and 0 g of fiber. Provides 15% daily value of calcium.

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Vegetarian Stuffed Patty Pan Squash [serves 2]

2 patty pan squash, 3 1/2 inches wide

1/2 cup low fat or part skim ricotta cheese

1 1/2 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped

2 tablespoons peeled apple, chopped

1/4 teaspoon sweet curry

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon raw walnuts, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh parsley, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice the tops off the patty pan squash and with a small spoon, hollow them out being careful not to pierce through their bottoms. Set aside. In a small bowl, mix ricotta, dates, apples, curry and salt. Fill the squash and put in an oven proof casserole dish with about 1/4 cup of water in the bottom. Cover and bake for 40 minutes or until a fork can pierce the sides of the squash. Remove from oven, top with walnuts and parsley and serve.

Per serving using low fat ricotta: 129 calories, 2.8 g fat, 1.1 g saturated fat, 15 mg cholesterol, 6.2 g protein, 22.5 g carbohydrates and 3.6 g of fiber.

Per serving using part skim ricotta: 159 calories, 5.3 g fat, 2.6 g saturated fat, 30 mg cholesterol, 5.2 g protein, 22.5 g carbohydrates and 2.6 g of fiber.