pasta from vegetables

     As I am on my journey of cutting calories and getting healthier I find I am cutting more of the starchy, refined or processed foods. I will always love bread, rice, potatoes, pasta etc. I just have to make the best of the decisions I can in choosing them or finding ways to improve the situation. So in this post I am addressing pasta!

     There are some good quality pastas out there, and some even are gluten free, or find ways of reducing the impact net carbs. Yet, what to do with all the pasta already in the house. Let's face it, when its on sale, pasta is an inexpensive addition to a meal. And like most household we have a supply in our pantry. Would seem a waste to throw it all out. Yet, I don't want all those carbs to go to my waist. That is the quandry. So this summer, while growing veggies in our garden I made a dish using wide ribbons cut from yellow squash and zucchini. Sauteed them in some garlic and olive oil and added them to some tortellini. It worked great.

     So last night after making a healthy chicken cacciatore and having some leftovers but not quite enough to feed two for tonight I had to figure out how to extend the leftovers. My mind immediatly went to pasta. Now, mind you, I can eat some pasta so long as I don't over induldge. I have to watch the amount of gluten, glycemic load and such. The key is getting sated without over eating. The answer - add more vegetables. So for tonight, I decided to make zucchini ribbons once more, but took it a step further and cut them lengthwise into a close noodle shape and length.

Step 1. Clean and stem the yellow squash and zucchini.
Step 2. Split lengthwise
Step 3. Using a vegetable peeler, take ribbons off of each half until you reach the softer center and stop.
Step 4. Cut lengths of fettuccine or so wide noodles.
Step 5. Sautee in a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and garlic until tender (or even healthier - steam them in a vegetable steamer)
Step 6. Add the resulting vegetable noodles to a scant single serving of pasta noodles. I found that one large (large but not ultra large like some can get) squash will yield about a single serving of pasta when cooked. So by doing both a zucchini and yellow squash, we made enough for three servings. By adding that to last nights leftovers, we had enough for dinner and one single serving for lunch tomorrow.

Picture 1 - the yellow squash cut into noodles

Picture 2 - the zucchini cut into ribbons

Picture 3 - the zuchinni cut ribbons cut into noodles

Picture 4. The cooked yellow squash and zucchini noodles added to a small single serving of pasta in a large family pasta bowl.

Picture 5. A serving of the veggie pasta with chicken cacciatore and grated parmesan over the top. The end result is I had one serving, with only a third of the normal pasta and was satisfied and full and didn't feel cheated or that I was missing out.