Pasta Primavera

Old, old favorite recipe in our family - you see how poor this copy is? The original by now is probably just a memory!

I think it came out of Good Housekeeping originally, but it clocked in at 590 calories a serving, which I really can’t do! 

So. I am lightening it up for you, here, halving the calories per serving! 

*By the way, after you’ve weighed and measured your food for as many years as I have, you really DO get better at eyeballing things. As you can see from the recipe, I was trying for 6oz here - pretty close!

PASTA PRIMAVERA

Olive oil pan spray

Garlic to taste

2lbs broccoli florets, trimmed

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced (if you’ve got one. I don’t, and this turns out just fine without it!)

6oz pasteurized processed cheese food (like Velveeta, that is)

1 1/4 C skim milk

1/3C grated dried Parmesan (like Kraft)

Fresh oregano - as much as you have!

14oz rice noodles (regular spaghetti if you don’t have to be GF)

Soak your nice noodles (or cook your spaghetti) according to package directions. Drain when done. 

In a large skillet or pot (whatever you have that fits 2lbs of broccoli), brown garlic in pan spray over medium. (I like a lot of garlic here!) Add broccoli and bell pepper, if using, and sauté for a second, stirring constantly. Add 1/4 C water; cover and cook until tender-crisp, stirring occasionally.

Cube your pasteurized processed cheese food (sorry, it’s so processed I can’t resist) while your broccoli is steaming. Once the broccoli is done, add the cheeses, oregano, and the milk and stir until cheeses are melted and mixture is blended.

Pour over hot pasta and serve.

Servings: 7

Calories per serving: 300

Spinach with Navy Beans

SPINACH WITH NAVY BEANS

I suppose I don't really even have a recipe for this in the sense of measuring anything! But it really is such a good recipe it deserves writing down, even if you're going to be on your own for quantities, lol. 

I use a lot of spinach. (I like spinach. Spinach is my diet secret.)

I wilt it in the microwave, in a large plastic bowl, after adding a little bit of water and covering it. Four minutes, stir; if all your spinach didn't fit in the bowl for the first four minutes, add more now, cover again and microwave another four. 

When it's done, I toss in a handful of navy beans. You could use canned; I do them in the crockpot in batches and freeze. (They're healthier and I don't have to worry about them being gluten free that way.) 

Then I add another handful of fresh Parmesan, and usually a good bit of thyme or oregano, too.

Stir it up, let the Parmesan melt a bit, and serve it hot - or portion it out in tupperwares to have it ready to eat later. (Another diet secret: I'm more likely to eat more veggies if they only need microwaved a minute!)

Shrimp with Lobster Sauce

SHRIMP WITH LOBSTER SAUCE 

2 C brown rice

1lb shrimp, peeled, de-veined, tails off

1/2lb ground pork

Garlic

2C chicken stock (or broth and broth base),  heated

2T soy sauce

1T sugar

1C frozen peas

4C broccoli florets

3 eggs, lightly beaten

3T cornstarch

Green onions, chopped, for garnish

Cook brown rice. I prefer to do mine in the InstaPot. Instapot Brown Rice

Prepare shrimp: peel, devein, remove tails.

Trim and steam broccoli in the microwave, tightly covered, 5 minutes. Stir once during cooking. Dice green onions.

In a 4-cup measure, stir together broth, soy sauce, sugar, and peas. In a smaller measure, mix cornstarch and 1/4C water to create a slurry.

Beat eggs in a small bowl.

In a wok coated with pan spray, cook pork until golden. Add garlic and shrimp. Stir fry until shrimp are done.

Add the broth mixture. Heat to a slow boil. Add slurry. Stir until sauce thickens. Add eggs, stirring so they don’t clump. Add broccoli; stir until well mixed.

Serve over rice.

Servings: 8

Calories per serving: 330

Pumpkin Carbonara

Here you go with your annual fall reminder from Ashley that (despite Starbucks) PUMPKIN IS A SAVORY, not a SWEET!

Hence the post from two years ago,Browned Butter, Thyme, and Pumpkin Pasta, and now this post today.

This carbonara is a bit easier than browned butter - browned butter can be kind of tricky - plus I was hoping for something a little healthier, this time. Carbonara calls for bacon and eggs, of course, but I drained my bacon well and eggs are definitely healthier than butter!

You’ll see, just like in the browned butter pasta, I’m using spinach to cut the calories.

PUMPKIN CARBONARA

Six slices thick center-cut bacon

1lb pasta

1 cup pumpkin

1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan 

3 eggs

Fresh rosemary 

Fresh spinach, wilted (that’s optional, of course)

In a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, cook bacon until crisp. As the bacon gets done, place it on paper towels to drain.

You can cook your pasta according to package directions while the bacon is cooking. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water (or more, if you want a thinner sauce) when you drain it.

Beat eggs in a small bowl or 4-cup measure while the pasta is cooking; add pumpkin, Parmesan, and rosemary. Blend well. Add 3/4C of the hot pasta water, stirring to thin out the sauce. Add more pasta water as needed.

Toss pasta with spinach, bacon, and sauce. Top with freshly ground black pepper and more Parmesan for serving.

Instapot Brussels sprouts

I didn’t make a real success out of the pumpkin carbonara, I must say - I never but NEVER remember to reserve a cup of pasta water when I drain it - but the Brussels did turn out well.

INSTAPOT BRUSSELS SPROUTS 

Ingredients: just Brussels and beef broth 

Brussels. As many as you want - as many as your Instapot will hold, maybe I should say. Trim them, you can halve them or leave them whole. Put them in the steamer basket of your Instapot. 

Pour a cup or so (I might’ve been closer to two cups) of beef broth over them. Instapot 5 minutes, quick release, and pull them out before they steam too much!

Shrimp-Stuffed Avocados

These made a great lunch! I added a few Quaker White Cheddar rice cakes for the whole grains, you can see, for a more balanced lunch. 

SHRIMP-STUFFED AVOCADOS

1/4C plain nonfat Greek yogurt

1T lime juice

2t mayonnaise

1t Dijon mustard

1 6oz can baby shrimp

2 avocados

Mix first five ingredients together.

Halve and pit the avocados. Scoop out a little extra avocado to make the hole for the shrimp larger and mash that into the shrimp filling.

Fill the avocados and enjoy!

Chicken Yakisoba

This is what my original recipe said about Yakisoba: 

"Yakisoba belongs on the stir-fried noodle dish Mount Rushmore. Yakisoba is an insanely popular dish that first started appearing in Japanese food stalls in the 1940's. When you think of soba noodles you may be reminded of the buckwheat noodles often served cold with a dipping sauce, but in Yakisoba, the noodles are made of wheat and resemble something similar to what you'd see in a lo mein."

Obviously, since we're gluten free here, we're not going to go with anything made out of wheat. I used the same noodles I use for a lo mein, which are the rice noodles from my local oriental market.

They worked great. This wound up tasting like seconds - and maybe even thirds!

CHICKEN YAKISOBA

14oz rice noodles (use yakisoba noodles, if you can find them and you're not GF)

12oz chicken breast, trimmed and cut into stir-fry size strips

3C broccoli florets

1/2 bag of shredded cabbage and carrots (cole slaw mix, found with the bagged salads)

Ingredients for Yakisoba sauce:

    4T Worcestershire sauce (Lea&Perrins is GF)

    2T soy sauce (Tamari is GF)    

    2T ketchup

    2T oyster sauce (Wok Mei is GF)

    1t sugar

Heat water to boiling on the stove or in an electric kettle. Pour water over rice noodles to cover, stir, and soak until soft and ready to eat (approximately 7 minutes, depending on the width of your noodles). 

While noodles are soaking, mix the ingredients for the yakisoba sauce together in a measuring cup or small bowl. Microwave your broccoli florets for 3 minutes. 

Drain noodles when they are done. 

Cover your wok with pan spray and add your chicken. Over medium high heat, stir fry your chicken until done. Remove chicken from wok. Add the broccoli and cabbage/carrots; stir fry until tender-crisp. Add chicken and noodles to the vegetables in the wok. Pour yakisoba sauce over the wok and stir until evenly distributed.