3X HEALTHY PASTA DISHES
Pasta carbonara, a real lasagna bolognese where the melted cheese and béchamel drip off, or how about penne with smoked salmon and a creamy sauce that sticks to your palate? Yes, please add a handful of fatburners right away. There is Italian blood flowing somewhere through my body, that explains a lot, right?
How those Italian bodies stay so slim is anyone's guess. Because the aforementioned plates of pasta don't really help with shedding the December kilos. If you still want to enjoy a nice plate of pasta tonight but without crashing onto the couch with a mountain of guilt, then cook one of these three healthy pasta dishes.
1. Healthy pasta carbonara
This recipe is super easy, but SO delicious.
Ingredients:
– 300 g whole wheat spaghetti
– 2 cloves of garlic
– 125 g lean bacon strips or vegetarian bacon strips
– 100 grams of peas
– 75 g Parmesan cheese
– 2 avocados
Preparation:
1. Cook the pasta al dente. Then drain it but catch a cup of the cooking water.
2. Pit the avocados, place them together with half of the Parmesan cheese in the blender and add a cup of cooking water.
3. Blend until you get a smooth sauce.
4. Fry the bacon until crispy and add the finely chopped garlic in the last few minutes. Add the peas to the bacon and let it sit for a moment.
5. Add the pasta to the bacon and mix in the avocado sauce.
6. Stir well and divide the pasta onto four plates.
6. Serve with fresh Parmesan.
2. Lasagna with eggplant and cottage cheese
Ingredients:
– 1 package of fresh lasagna sheets
– 1 onion, finely chopped
– 3 cloves of garlic
– 1 tsp smoked paprika powder
– 1 tsp cayenne pepper
– package of sieved tomatoes
– 1 eggplant
– fresh basil
– 1 container of cottage cheese
– fresh Parmesan
– 1 ball of buffalo mozzarella, sliced
“How those Italian bodies stay so slim is anyone's guess.”
Preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Slice the eggplant lengthwise into thin slices, grill the slices in a grill pan or on the grill setting in the oven.
3. Heat a frying pan and sauté the onion and garlic. Add the paprika powder, cayenne pepper, and a pinch of salt, and finally the sieved tomatoes. Let the sauce simmer for ten minutes on low heat. I often make the sauce the night before so it can soak in nicely.
4. Mix the cottage cheese with a handful of grated Parmesan.
5. Now we are going to layer: grease a large baking dish with olive oil. Start with a spoonful of sauce and spread it over the dish. Place a layer of eggplant on top followed by a layer of lasagna sheets. Spread a layer of cottage cheese on the lasagna sheets and top with a bit of mozzarella. Start from the front again and finish with a layer of fresh Parmesan cheese.
6. Bake the lasagna for 45 minutes until cooked.
3. Penne with anchovy-almond pesto (for 4 people)
Ingredients:
– 300 grams of penne
– fresh Parmesan
– 1 onion, finely chopped
– a generous handful of almonds
– 3 cloves of garlic
– 2 red chili peppers without seeds
– 1 handful of basil leaves
– 6 anchovies
– box of cherry tomatoes
– handful of black olives
– olive oil
– parsley
– extra Parmesan for garnish
Preparation:
1. Cook the penne al dente.
2. Put all the ingredients except the onion, cherry tomatoes, black olives, and parsley in the blender. Pulse a few times until you get a coarse paste (not too long).
3. Put some olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the chopped onion, add the tomatoes and let it simmer for ten minutes on low heat. Finally, add the olives in rings.
4. Stir the pesto through the warm pasta and warm it up again in the pan.
5. Serve the pasta together with fresh parsley, a bit of olive oil, and Parmesan.
6. Garnish with fresh arugula.
