Pasta pasta pasta where do I even begin?
Pasta can get a pretty bad rap due to it’s often fattening cream sauces, high carbohydrate count, and low nutritional value, but I’m here to tell you that not all pasta is bad! You can still eat pasta and lose weight, or maintain your toned figure. The keys to eating pasta are knowing what kind, and how much.

“Pasta doesn’t make you fat. How much pasta you eat makes you fat.”
– Giada De Laurentiis (Health Magazine, May 2012)

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Weather you are trying to maintain or lose weight, you could virtually eat anything that you want, as long as you know the correct amount and portions!

Today’s recipe is a healthy Pasta Primavera made with whole wheat pasta. Whole wheat pasta is made from flour that uses the entire grain and contains slightly more protein, and two to three times more fiber than refined pastas allowing you to stay fuller longer while stabilizing blood sugar levels.


Pasta Primavera
Serves 1

1/2 cup cooked whole wheat pasta
1 cup bell pepper (I used 1/2 cup red and 1/2 cup green)
1/2 cup mushrooms
1/2 cup yellow onion
1/4 cup nonfat ricotta cheese
1/4 cup low sodium vegetable broth (I use Pacific)
2 Tbsp pine nuts
1 tsp  salt-free Italian seasoning (I use Frontier)
1/2 tsp minced garlic

Cook the pasta to package instructions. Chop the bell pepper, onion, and mushroom and cook in vegetable broth in a pan over high heat.  While the pasta and vegetables are cooking, combine the ricotta, Italian seasoning, garlic, and pine nuts in a separate bowl and mix evenly. Once the pasta has finished cooking, strain and combine with the ricotta mixture. After vegetables have finished cooking, gently fold into the pasta and ricotta. Serve hot.
Note: If you are allergic to nuts, you can omit the nuts and cook your veggies in 1 Tbsp of olive oil (instead of vegetable broth) for your plant based fat serving.


The Rabbit Food Pyramid Breakdown
Produce: bell pepper, mushroom, onion
Whole Grain: whole wheat pasta
Protein: nonfat ricotta cheese
Plant Based Fat: pine nuts

| 17 Comments

17 Comments on Pasta Primavera

  1. tamiko
    July 25, 2012 at 4:37 pm (12 years ago)

    Hello Catherine,
    Thanks for sharing the Pasta Primavera recipe. It looks yummy and I cannot wait to try it. The ingredients are already on my shopping list for next week 🙂

    Reply
    • Catherine
      July 25, 2012 at 4:46 pm (12 years ago)

      Woo that’s awesome, I’m so excited for you to try it! xo

      Reply
  2. Emillea
    July 25, 2012 at 4:50 pm (12 years ago)

    I meant to ask about this. The sweltering Chicago heat has me looking forward to winter, where I eat soup for every other meal.

    How do you incorporate broth into the pyramid? (I have a few others, like how to bake with standard ingredients while following the pyramid, but those can be put off till later)

    Thanks!
    ~Emillea

    Reply
    • Catherine
      July 25, 2012 at 5:21 pm (12 years ago)

      Hi Emilea! When I cook veggies with 1/4 cup low sodium vegetable broth, it is literally so low in calories, carbohydrates, etc that it does’t really bout towards anything, basically a small extra. If you were to use low sodium broth as a soup base, I would count it towards your protein serving! I don’t tend to eat a lot of soups but this is probably how I could count it 🙂 xo

      Reply
  3. Rosalba
    July 26, 2012 at 2:18 am (12 years ago)

    Hi Catherine,

    Thanks for posting this recipe. I am confused about one thing though, is one serving of pasta 1/2 cup of dry or cooked pasta?

    Thanks!

    – Rosalba

    Reply
    • Catherine
      July 26, 2012 at 10:08 am (12 years ago)

      Oh my goodness, it’s cooked haha thank you for catching that! xo

      Reply
    • Catherine
      July 26, 2012 at 10:09 am (12 years ago)

      Thanks Lauren! xo

      Reply
  5. Katelyn
    July 26, 2012 at 11:52 am (12 years ago)

    Want to be my personal chef?

    Reply
    • Catherine
      July 26, 2012 at 12:22 pm (12 years ago)

      Haha I would love to! xo

      Reply
  6. Kristen
    August 9, 2012 at 4:56 pm (12 years ago)

    I made this for my parents tonight And they loved it! Thank you 🙂

    Reply
    • Catherine
      August 9, 2012 at 5:05 pm (12 years ago)

      Aww you are very welcome! I’m glad they enjoyed it 🙂

      Reply
  7. Janine
    August 20, 2012 at 5:15 pm (12 years ago)

    Hey Catherine! I went to the supermarket to buy whole grain pasta for the first time but was so overwhelmed by the variety of pasta available. Is whole wheat pasta better than rice pasta, egg pasta and durum wheat semolina pasta? So hard! Thanks so much

    Reply
  8. Pamela
    August 29, 2012 at 12:05 am (12 years ago)

    IT WAS SOOO GOOD!!! THANKS FOR THE RECIPES ON HERE!!!

    Reply
  9. Paige
    November 1, 2012 at 8:49 pm (12 years ago)

    Had this for dinner tonight! Very delicious:) I feel healthier already.

    Reply
  10. Dana
    December 5, 2012 at 11:48 pm (12 years ago)

    mushrooms and i are just not friends….whats a good substitute?

    Reply
  11. Cathy
    January 22, 2014 at 4:27 am (11 years ago)

    This looks great!

    And I was just wondering how do you measure off spaghetti? 😀

    Greetings from Germany,
    Cathy

    Reply

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