If you are health-conscious, you might have realized by now that pasta sauces are not necessarily the best thing to drown your pasta in. In moderation, they are fine, but you can avoid the added calories and sugar altogether and still have pasta that tastes fabulous.
I first got the idea for sauce replacements from the Nava Atlas vegetarian cookbook I previously blogged about. In the book, Atlas has recipes for pasta with asparagus, pasta with broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes, etc. All she recommends is to use some olive oil, salt and pepper and fresh vegetables. I started doing this and just loved it. I have gotten so used to feeling light and satisfied that I wouldn’t eat a pasta dish with sauce now if you paid me! I have even served these dishes to dinner guests, who love them as well.
Some ingredients you can throw into your pasta dishes are:
- Asparagus tips
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- Crisp broccoli
- Shrimp
- Diced chicken
- Tuna
- Salt and pepper
- Other seasonings you like
- Olive oil
- Light pesto
- Vinaigrette (for a chilled pasta salad!)
- Diced tomatoes
- Fresh basil
- Steamed eggplant
- Parmesan cheese
- Goat cheese
- Mozzarella cheese
(To lighten it up even more, use whole grain, wheat or low-carb pasta.)
Tags: healthy, light cooking