Healthy Recipe | Pasta Dish | Cooking With The Family
A Simple, Yet Delicious, Pasta Dish Anyone Can Make!
My parents LOVE to cook! A pinch of stuff here, a dad of stuff there, it’s all fun in their kitchen! So, I’ll write about a simple dish you can do today!
Me being Italian, pasta was part of my growing up, and to this day it’s still my favorite food, without question!
BUT, most people don’t think of pasta as being healthy. Matter of fact, most people don’t think of pasta having any other sauce than the traditional red or some sort of cream sauce.
I’ve eaten past with dozens of different concoctions as the primary sauce, and most of them didn’t have any red or cream sauce with them.
The “non-pasta” people are now scratching their head. No worries, I’ll get into a bit more details coming up.
First of all, YES, I know that whole wheat pasta is better and healthier for you, so I’ll ask you not to comment about that, but please comment about anything else, ok?
That being said, I don’t like the gritty taste whole wheat pasta has. To me, the whole wheat pasta feels like there is sand in it and just doesn’t do it for me. So, THAT part of my meal may not be the healthiest, I get it.
OK, let’s move on. Now, try this recipe out for size……
In some sort of skillet, put a little bit of olive oil. Add some salt, pepper, garlic and maybe some onions, but that’s up to you. Oh, by the way, just so there’s no misunderstandings, I’m Italian and garlic is a food group!
Moving on….Let those ingredients brown for a bit then add some FRESHLY WASHED spinach to the mix.
Spinach you ask? Yup, that’s right, spinach. Just like Popeye used to eat. You can get it a just about any grocery store, if you don’t already grow it yourself.
How much should you add? That’s up to you, but keep in mind, as the spinach cooks, it will reduce down to a more manageable size within the pan. So, don’t be afraid to pile it in the pan. The beauty is, you can experiment and the next time you do this, you can add more or take some away. Oh, believe me, there WILL be a next time, it’s just that good!
Also, since you just washed the spinach, there may also be some water still on it so you want to cook as much of that off as possible.
Now, just cook it to taste. The good thing is, this sauce is all vegetables, so you don’t have to worry about it being under cooked. Oh sure, there may be some foodies out there saying the garlic has to be a light brown, and the onions need to be caramelized, bla….bla…bla. Like my parents taught me, you’ll learn the way you like it as you keep doing it. So, as I said, just experiment and try it different ways in the future.
Cook your pasta in another pan, of course. The amount of pasta will be in relation to the amount of the sauce you’ve cooked. I would even say cook the amount of pasta you usually cook. If it’s just you, cook for one. If it’s for a family, cook the amount you usually cook.
Strain the pasta (after it’s cooked), put it in a pasta bowl then pour the spinach sauce over it. As I said earlier, and this is just as important as anything, you may have to play around with the portions of olive oil, garlic and spinach, depending on the amount of past you cook, but you’ll be amazed as to how this tastes.
AND, in addition to the wonderful taste, this is a fairly healthy meal! Well, at least in my book it is. I’m sure someone with a degree in food will write and say “olive oil isn’t health” or “garlic isn’t healthy” or “spinach isn’t healthy” etc. You know what? In my book, this is pretty darn healthy…AND DELICIOUS!
Hey, if you enjoyed this, then you may want to read more of my stories. I write about lifestyle, health and fitness, I throw in some humor stories, and we’re all happy! I’ve linked to a few of my stories below.
