Pasta Dishes - Healthy or Otherwise!?

Question

I love pasta and eat it all the time. I'm trying to stick to my healthy eating but sometimes you just have to have something really unhealthily tasty! Any ideas for any pasta dishes - healthy or not!

Answer 1

Pasta is healthy, however its what you add to it that makes it unhealthy such as a creamy sauce or cheese etc.

However try the following

Perfect pasta
200g/7oz pasta shapes
175g/6oz broccoli
2 chicken breasts, cooked
4 tbsp honey
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
150g/5oz sweetcorn
2 spring onions

Method
1. Cook the pasta shapes according to the packet instructions. Add the broccoli for the last three minutes.
2. Shred the cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces. Remove any bits of skin.
3. Carefully slice the spring onions.
4. Make a dressing by mixing together the honey, vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil.
5. Mix together the pasta, broccoli, chicken, spring onions, sweetcorn and the dressing.
6. Your pasta salad is now ready to eat

or Roasted vegetable pasta
2 courgettes, cut into sticks
1 red pepper, seeded and cut into strips
2 garlic cloves, sliced finely
3 tbsp olive oil
300g/10oz pasta shells
200ml/7fl oz tub half-fat crème fraîche
2tsp wholegrain mustard
85g/3oz cheddar, grated

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
2. Put the courgettes and red pepper in a roasting tin and sprinkle over the sliced garlic. Drizzle with olive oil, then season and toss to make sure all the vegetables are coated with oil.
3. Roast for 15-20 minutes until the vegtables are tender and beginning to brown.
4. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and cook for 10-12 minutes until just cooked. Drain and stir in the roasted vegetables with the crème fraîche, mustard and grated cheddar

or Spicy sausage pasta

400g/14¼oz fresh tagliatelle
8 tbsp Italian olive oil
1 medium onion, finely sliced
4 Italian sausages, chopped
2 handfuls chestnut mushrooms, sliced
1 medium red chilli
1 handful pine nuts
100g/3½oz pecorino cheese, freshly grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method
1. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente.
2. In a frying pan, heat the olive oil and shallow fry the onion and sausage until golden.
3. Add the mushrooms, chilli and the pine kernels, season with salt and pepper and cook for approximately three minutes.
4. Drain the pasta, add to the sauce and mix well.
5. Serve immediately with some freshly grated pecorino on top

or Basic tomato and basil sauce for pasta

This is a perfect sauce to use as a base. You can add a variety of other flavours to the finished sauce, just cooking for a few minutes to create a completely different dish.
Ingredients
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes
¼-½ tsp dried chilli flakes
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1 large handful basil leaves, torn into small pieces
salt and freshly ground black pepper
grated parmesan cheese, to serve

Method
1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and gently cook the onion and garlic until softened. Stir in the tomatoes, chilli flakes, balsamic vinegar and sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook slowly for 45 minutes-1 hour. Stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper. This can be left chunky or blended in a food processor for a smooth sauce.
2. Serve spooned over cooked pasta with plenty of parmesan cheese.

Alternatives:
250g/9oz tub of mascarpone or cream cheese, either alone or with strips of smoked salmon
chopped black olives and marinated artichokes
fried bacon and mushrooms
prawns, capers and chopped parsley
chopped chicken, red onion and red peppers, fried in olive oil
fried slices of chorizo sausage, chopped black olives and pieces of mozzarella cheese.

or Creamy pasta with salmon
½ red onion, sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, chopped
75g/2¾oz fresh salmon, cubed
125ml double cream
150g/5½oz penne pasta, cooked according to packet instructions
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Method
1. Heat a pan and add the oil, garlic and red onion. Sauté for three minutes, until the onion has softened.
2. Add the salmon cubes and double cream and continue to cook for five minutes, or until the salmon has cooked through.
3. Add the pasta and warm through.
4. Add the parsley, stir and pour into a bowl to serve

Answer 2

Well think small and simple, and Healthy baby.Go to your grocery store by a Cantilope, a Watermellon, and some rassberry's or strawberrys, Cut then into squares the night before and package tem up for your trip to work in the morning. Healthy pick me up for start of the day, Also snack on peanut butter and jelly Sandwiches a couple days a week, These are great for you and your baby and a carrot piece with the sandwich mmm will top it off. Now i'm getting hungry. Time for an Apple tonight. If your from down southern States you know that a nice Orange or grapfruit is so super for your baby, and also something with ciniman on it will help keep your blood sugar levels down more later into the pregnancy as a lot of women do become Diebetic during their pegnency's. Take care eat like this and pop out a vry healthy baby, whch ever it is, let it be lealthy congrats from uncle kevin. lol Rochester, MN. Paris says your still sexy also. :)

Answer 3

Whole-wheat and spinach pastas, white meat chicken sauteed in olive oil, garlic, fresh oregano, fresh basil, a few pine nuts, and a moderate amount of Romano cheese. (I like Romano because it tastes best but you can use Parmesan instead if you want.)

Generally speaking, pasta is a high-glycemic carb which is not great, but using whole-wheat and spinach pastas will help some. Don't go crazy on any of the ingredients, even though they sound healthy.

Whatever you do, stay away from the Alfredo sauce. If it's made right it's incredibly high in fat, calories and cholesterol, and if it's not made right, it's not worth eating.

Answer 4

A healthy portion of pasta at one sitting should be no more than 80 grams. This for starters. The pasta itself is not fattening (and I'm sure you know this) - what can be fattening is the condiment.
1. olive oil, dash of cayenne
2. Fry up some hot peppers and garlic and spoon over

Answer 5

if you don't burn off white pasta that's when it can be quite fattening as you're not using up the sugar. if you eat wholemeal pasta it's not a problem. I usually stir fry peppers, onion, garlic, chilli powder altogether with some passata or tins of chopped toms then add sweetcorn just before it's ready to serve. lovely and healty to boot. you could also add some bacon or chicken in if you fancy that.

Answer 6

My favourite at the mo is pasta mixed with Dolmio Sauce covered with cheese sauce and grated cheese melted on the top. Sometimes I add mince in, use pork mince as it's softer than beef, and veg (if I suddenly feel healthy) like peas and sweetcorn. Yummy I reckon!

Answer 7

try the whole wheat kind!
also the portions are not to be too big-bummer!
adding butter,cream,cheeses....that is what is not healthy.go for fresh tomatoes,basil,oregano,low fat fetta cheese,low fat mozzarella,Parmesan-the real kind is not too fatty.
good thing about pasta is you can serve cold-day old,warm,hot directly form the pot-drained obviously,to oven baked.instead of cream try Carnation milk with a little butter.fresh pepper and herbs make a huge difference in adding big flavor.make vinagrettes for warm pasta: good balsamic vinegar,good olive oil...herbs...italians make very simple pasta such as:some olive oil,fry chopped garlic for a minute,add red pepper,chopped parseley,1/2 cup white wine cook 1 minute...add spaguetti!!!add cheese.

Answer 8

When you eat pasta do you add anything to it that might be healthy? I love putting grilled chicken and broccoli in mine, and grilled chicken is better for you and broccoli is a vitamin filled vegetable so there you have it! You can also try turkey sausage with spaghetti and tomato sauce, my mom does that one.

Answer 9

Reduced cream sauce (basically cream with a drop of olive oil, simmered until it significantly reduces in volume and becomes thicker) offers a ton of possibilities.

- Add julienne cut sundried tomatoes
- Blend reduced cream with sundried tomatoes
- Reduced cream with saffron (this is good!)
- Reduced cream with parsley and parmesan is kind of Alfredo sauce
- Reduced cream with reduced wine-tomato sauce is excellent
- Reduced cream with deep-fried paneer (Indian cheese, basically a cake of cottage cheese which dices and fries easily)
- Reduced cream with habanero pepper (very little unless you can stand the burn)

Answer 10

well yes it can be healthy if u want to make it healthy mix things into it but yeah it can be healthy xxxxxxxx