Pasta Salad

Ingredients are key to healthy eating. You can make almost dish and still eat with wellness and health in mind. No matter how unhealthy the original, most recipes can be made more healthy by tweaking the ingredients. The tricky part is mastering the art of not effecting taste and texture any more than you can help.

Fortunately, when it comes to pasta salad, this is too easy!

Pasta Salad Basics

Start with a healthy pasta. Healthy = high fiber without losing flavor or adding an odd, grainy texture. The solution is Ronzoni Smart Taste Pasta. I like to use the Rotini. Cook pasta according to package directions (8 minutes of cook time) and the drain off water. Let it sit for about 20 minutes to cool while you cup up your add-ins (see below).

Next, the dressing. I love Italian on Pasta salad! Although ranch is an acceptable alternative if you are looking for something different. I prefer to skip the preservatives in most prepared dressings, the bad fats in veggie oil and the MSG in most dry dressing mixes. (P.S. Autolyzed Yeast extract is also MSG.)

My dressing of choice is Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix. Make it with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and you have a dressing made with GOOD FAT and no preservative. One package of dressing prepared according to the package directions is enough dressing for 1 pound of pasta plus 3 - 4 cups of additional ingredients (see options below).

To make the dressing for my pasta salad, I use Pompeian OlivExtra Plus with Omega-3 DHA. The flavor is outstanding and the health benefits are astonishing. More details here.

The vinegar of choice is red wine vinegar. I love the flavor it gives this salad. All vinegars are helpful for keeping cholesterol, triglyceride levels and blood pressure levels in check. They also lower glucose and insulin response and to decrease the diabetic's sensitivity to carbohydrates and starch. They may also be beneficial in fighting infection.

Another vinegar that is wonderful with this dressing is apple cider vinegar.

Additional, healthy add-ins:

• Chopped Tomato (Roma is best because it is firm, but any will work.)
• Sliced Olives, - green, black, or both
• Diced fresh peppers - red, yellow, green
• Turkey pepperoni or diced turkey ham (2 - 3 oz per 1 pound of pasta)
• Reduced fat or fat free cheeses (6 - 8 oz): cheddar, Monterrey jack, mozzarella, Parmesan, or whatever you like best
• 2 - 3 tablespoon real bacon bits (which is surprisingly lean)
• 1 tablespoons total of any or all of the following:Italian seasoning, basil, parsley

Mix all and refrigerate for about 4 hours to allow the flavors to meld together.

Now that's something to sing about!

"Funiculì, Funiculà"

"Funiculì, Funiculà" is a famous song written by Italian journalist Peppino Turco and set to music by Italian composer Luigi Denza in 1880.

Here sung by a varied selection of veggies in a Classy Songs with Larry segment - what could be more appropriate to go with pasta salad?

Spaghetti Night

Have you ever looked at the ingredients in most spaghetti sauces. Why do they include sugar? Tomatoes are sweet if they are picked at the right time, why add sugar? Here is an easy, home sauce that is very little more work than opening a jar.


Marinara Sauce with Meat

• 1/2 pound ground turkey or ground beef
• 1/2 pound Italian spicy sausage - hot, medium, or mild (can use Italian turkey sausage if desired)
• 1 - 29oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 2 t. garlic powder (not garlic salt)
• 1 t. basil
• 1/2 t. oregano

1. Brown and drain meats.
2. Add all other ingredients and mix.
3. Allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes or, for more flavor, cook in crock pot for 3-4 hours on high.

That's it! I know it's amazing an simple. Pair with an SmartTaste pasta and you have and outstanding - and healthy meal.

Music for dinner should include:

• Tarantella Napoletana
• Si Maritau Rosa
• Piu Bellu di Peppe Non Ce
• Thats Amore
• Funiculi Funicula

Too Busy to Make a Great Meal? (Guiltless Alfredo)

How many times have you come to the end of you day feeling exhausted and even disoriented yet you wonder, "What did I do today?" or worse, "Did I accomplish anything today?". When we are in a hurry our brains are in high gear and extremely focused on speed, as result we cannot focus on an individual task.

I get up and start to make the bed, when I remember that the sheets need changed today. I might as well pull the current sheets off the bed and wash them, and as result the bed is now not only unmade, but the blankets are everywhere dotted with naked pillows. Once in the laundry area I see that a load of towels need removed from the dryer. The sheets go into the washer and the towels go into a basket. While moving the basket to an area where I can fold the towels I pass the kitchen counter and sink. The dishwasher needs emptied before I can put the dishes on the counter and sink in. So I sit down the basket on the table and start unloading the dishwasher. Halfway through unloading the dishwasher, I see a dish that I usually bake chicken in, reminding me that I need to get some chicken breasts out of the freezer and into the fridge to thaw for dinner. I want to bake it in Italian dressing, so I'd better make sure I have some. I do, but not much and the mayo is low, too. I'm also out of mustard, peanut butter, and wheat thins. I better make a grocery list. I like lists on the computer, so I sit down at the keyboard. I can check my email while I'm here, too! Google, Facebook, and ebay later...the phone rings. While chatting for a few with a friend I notice that the cats have strewn thread bits on the living room carpet. Vacuum time! Might as well do the dining room while I'm at it...the mantle needs dusted, too. And the mirror needs cleaned...so does the one in the bathroom...the sink needs wiped down...what about the toilet...yup! The bathroom rug should go in the wash...the sheets aren't done yet, just lay it on top the washer...grab the towels to fold on the couch...while sitting here folding the dishwasher could be running...I have to finish unloading...time to reload...better add dish washing liquid to the grocery list...who email me now?...faster, faster! Hurry, run! Fold, wash, spray, sweep, dust, sneeze! Straighten rugs, fluff pillows, wipe counters.

Why am I so tired? Why are there dirty dishes in a quiet dish washer, a vacuum sitting in my dining room, and a Windex bottle on the bathroom sink? I want a quick rest, but my bed is a mess and there are towels on my couch.

Exodus 20:11 - For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Even God took a break! Everyday looked like the day above for me, and the days blended together after a while, until I realized that I was actually making more work for myself. My house looked cluttered because I found it difficult to finish anything working like this. The better way it make a list of what needs done and only work in one room at a time. If you go from the kitchen to the living room spotting 5 things that need done along the way, add them to the list and do them when you are working in the rooms where they are. You may only get to 1 or 2 rooms a day, but those rooms look good! Have you ever noticed that when your environment is cluttered your mind feels cluttered? A tidy area = a peaceful mind.

Oh, and what about that 7th day of rest. I know it's not a reality to expect everyone to drop everything on Sunday and rest, but one day of the week should be devoted to resting. A mind at rest is like resetting a computer. It organizes thoughts, thus the saying "I'll sleep on it." One day a week do something for yourself that you don't normally do. A book, a bath, a movie, a manicure...something!

That said...ever feel that you have no time to cook a healthy meal at home? Too many ingredients in healthier foods, not to mention the time to locate obscure ingredients in expensive specialty stores? Even though bigger supermarkets may have what I'm looking for, I live in the country, a good 20 from the small stores, and 45 minutes from the nearest big town.

Well no more! Healthy is easy, affordable, and best of all delicious!!

Imagine, strands of perfectly cooked pasta coated in a creamy, cheesy sauce, bits of bacony goodness and children (and husbands) eating green vegetables! This is no dream!

It's Spaghetti Carbonara in 20!

Low Fat Alfredo Sauce

Makes 4 very reasonable size portions. Serve with a salad on the side.

1. Mix:

• 2/3 c. dry nonfat milk (3.5)
• 1 c. skim milk (.5)
• 3 t flour (.0)

2. Put ingredients in sealed container and shake like mad!!! Until no lumps remain.
(I like to use a blender!)

3. Pour into sauce pan and heat over medium heat. (Not too high or bottom will burn)
Option: add ¼ t. garlic powder, ½ parsley
and/or ½ t. basil (to add more flavor)

4. When hot and beginning to thicken, turn off heat.

5. Add 2 T of heated sauce mix to:

• 4 TB Neufchatel cheese or low fat cream cheese (not fat free)

6. Mix until smooth and pour into sauce in pan.

7. Add:

• 1 - 1½ c grated Parmesan cheese
  

8. Stir until melted.

9. Toss with 12 oz. cooked spaghetti and 1 cup cooked broccoli florets.

(SmartTaste pasta is a Godsend! Purple box full of heavenly pasta full of fiber and protien that tastes like the very, very bad for you white flour variety. Cook according to "al dente" direction on the package and don't forget to stir it a few times while it's cooking.)

To cook the broccoli, simple add it to the boiling pasta for the final 3 minutes of the pasta cook time. Alternatively you can buy "Steamfreash", or store knock off, broccoli in a microwaveable steam bag and do it that way.

10. Toss just a few real bacon bits over the top of the pasta, veggies and sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.

So very, very amazing! Enjoy and let know you reactions. Mine is "Hallelujah!" via Handel's Messiah. "For the Lord God omnipotent reignith...and He gave us pasta!"