How do I get away from pasta cooking?

Question

I have always relied quite heavily (lol) on pasta based recipes, but want to get away from this and other carbohydrate based foods. But I dont want to be spending a lot of time preparing meals. What do you suggest? What foods can I use more that are less likely to lead to weight gain while still being easy to prepare? Thanks!

Answer 1

I can understand why you would want to change your habits. Pasta is so yummy but full of carbs. I would just slowly start cooking more veggies. How about chicken cooked with Italian dressing? Or maybe even a steak, those are good! But the veggies thing worked best for me especially if you add a lil something to it like wine or chicken!

Answer 2

We prep larger amounts on the weekend and then break them into smaller portions for the week. These go into the freezer for quick grab 'n go meals.

Turkey Chili made with beans, peppers, onions, and corn: low fat, high protien, good veggie supply.

Bake off a family-pack of boneless skinless chicken breasts that have been marinated in 2-3 different flavors. Cool and slice into strips. We are now ready for fajitas, salads, whole wheat or spelt pasta (this is our favorite, it has protien, texture, and less carbs) or our own version of chicken helper.

Have you tried fried or baked polenta with your pasta sauce? Use some of the chicken strips from above and you are all set. The polenta comes in a tube that looks like Jimmy Dean sausage, usually it is by the vegetables, but sometimes it is by the rice & grains.

We use ground turkey and taco seasoning to make taco salads. It is quick and easy. 15 minutes from stovetop to table.

Veggie and turkey lasagna: No boil noodles by Barilla and your favorite pasta sauce. Saute the veggies. Buy the sweet italian turkey sausage and squeeze it out of the casing. Fry it up. Cool everything down. Then follow the instructions on the back of the noodle package when assembling. Easy peasy & meals for at least a couple of nights.

Ground turkey, Cream of mushroom soup, sour cream and a bit of milk. Brown the turkey, lower the heat and add the soup, then the sour cream and a bit of milk to make a sauce. Boil egg noodles for the desired amount of people. This should feed 3-4. If you feel wild and crazy, after browning the turkey, remove it and saute sliced mushrooms. Return the turkey to the pan and continue as described.

Think outside the box. Be creative with what you have. Limit the main ingredients you cook with and it will make your life a lot easier.

Hope this helps! Good luck.

Answer 3

You still need some carbs to keep your energy up, but why not try brown (wholewheat) pasta and rice, which is better for you and less fattening than white pasta and rice. You could also try noodles instead of pasta, doing the same kind of thing, but less fattening. Stir fries are nice and easy, but good for you as you can put lots of veg in. You can serve these with noodles or just make a big stir fry on it's own, lots of veg, try kidney beans and beansprouts so you don't miss the pasta as much! And put some chicken in there for protein. You can get some pretty straightforward curry recipes or just use it out of a jar! If you don't want to spend lots of time cooking say a meat dinner, why not grill your meat and serve with veg, quick and healthy, or cook some rice with veg and a few spices to go with your meat.
A quick healthy recipe I like which you might want to try:

Mushroom Stroganoff (for 2)
Chop up an onion and quarter about 225g mushrooms. Fry the onion in a little olive oil for 5-10 mins, add the mushrooms for a few mins, then a tablespoon each of tomato puree and mustard, 75-100ml of creme fraiche, season and add a bit of paprika if you have some in. Cook for about 5 mins and serve with rice.

Answer 4

Good question.

Those pre-cut vegetables most supermarkets have now are pretty decent for fast meals. Stir-fries are your friend -- buy some assorted oils and vinegars (sesame and rice wine, say) and experiment, or just some basic "stir-fry sauce" sorts of things to dump on. Or just garlic and olive oil. Frozen veg sometimes turns out alright, too.

Don't discount the soup-as-meal concept. There're ones that're quite good despite few ingredients -- potato and leek, say -- and you can take a basic Lipton-type soup mix (the tomato veg, say) and throw in whatever chopped veg you have on hand, and just enough rice, pasta, beans, etc to make it filling without being fattening as per a pasta dish.

If you like pasta bakes -- try zucchini and eggplant casserole sorts of things.

Answer 5

Always a salad or vegetables of some kind.
We often have really simple meals like grilled chicken with salad and pita and hummus.
Grilled steak with salad and garlic bread.
With pasta, best way to make it less fattening is to use wholewheat, fresh ingredients, less cream sauces.
Rice is a good alternative, just don't eat a lot of carbs.
We should all be eating more fruits and vegetables, less carbs.
Enjoy!

Answer 6

We love oven roasted potatoes. Wash red skinned, Yukon gold, or even sweet potatoes and cut into small cubes; you don't have to peel them unless you want to. Season with olive oil, salt and pepper (experiment with whatever spices you like). Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet (I line my pan with foil first for easy clean-up) and cook in a 400 degree oven, stirring occasionally, until browned and tender, usually about an hour.

**Sorry - misread the question. If you decide to do carbs on occasion, there you go. Otherwise, you can also roast other veggies the same way - mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, and asparagus are my favorites.

Answer 7

Go for salads, vegetables,meat, small quantities of potatoes, boiled, mashed, roast or baked, or meals with rice (in small quantities). At the end of the day, you do need SOME carbohydrates, so just cut down, don't cut out.

Answer 8

Salads and vegetables!

Make them the bulk of your meals.

Salads are a lot of fun, because you can add whatever you want to them, in addition to the greens. Make them colorful by adding mangoes, apples, yellow and red bell peppers, black olives, etc. Instead of a fatty dressing, experiment with the spices in your cabinet and mix with extra virgin olive oil and different vinegars.

For vegetables, get fresh from the produce section of the market. Make it fun by buying something you have never eaten before.

Answer 9

NGREDIENTS

* 1 head cabbage, cored and cut into wedges
* 1 onion, sliced
* 1 green bell pepper, sliced
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* cracked black pepper to taste
* 1/4 cup butter or margarine, cut into pieces

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat grill for medium heat, and lightly oil grate.
2. Place cabbage on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Top with onion slices, bell pepper slices, garlic, black pepper, and butter. Fold edges of foil together to seal, then wrap entire package again with another sheet of foil.
3. Cook on hot grill for 30 to 45 minutes, turning packet every 10 minutes.

Try this it's low carb,filling and yummy! Have it with chicken. fish or lean steak.

Answer 10

in vest ina small pressure cooker .there are many recipes to do.Healthy cause all the nutrients stay.much better for you.Some recipes only take 20 mins to cook .Try cooking a small chicken the results are g8. hope that helps.