Skip to main content

Recipe Wednesday! One-Pot Pasta with Tomato and Spinach

I consider myself fortunate that while I was growing up, my parents rarely had processed food, soda, or junk food in the house.  (Our snack of choice was popcorn which was easy to make and less fattening than a bag of chips).  Because we didn't have an over abundance of packaged-ready-to-microwave meals, we spent a lot of time in the kitchen making our meals.  I think this is also where I learned to love to cook.  This also may explain the multitude of cookbooks in my house and pages of printed out recipes from online, but I digress...

For today, I wanted to share with you a simple, easy-to-make, and healthy-for-you recipe from Cooking Light:

Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 (14.5-ounce) can unsalted petite diced tomatoes, undrained
  • 1 1/2 cups unsalted chicken stock
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 8 ounces whole-grain spaghetti or linguine
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 10 ounce fresh spinach
  • 1 ounce parmesan cheese, grated
Directions
Heat a Dutch oven or large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add oil; swirl to coat. Add onion and garlic to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until onion starts to brown.Add tomatoes, stock, oregano, and pasta, in that order. Bring to a boil.
Stir to submerge noodles in liquid. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 7 minutes or until pasta is almost done. Uncover; stir in salt.
Add spinach in batches, stirring until spinach wilts. Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese, and serve.

Nutrition Information
Serves: 4|  Serving Size: 2 cups pasta mixture + 1 tablespoon cheese
Per serving: Calories: 334; Total Fat: 7g; Saturated Fat: 2g; Monounsaturated Fat: 3g; Cholesterol: 6mg; Sodium: 540mg; Carbohydrate: 56g; Dietary Fiber: 10g; Sugar: 7g; Protein: 14g
Nutrition Bonus: Potassium: 696mg; Iron: 21%; Vitamin A: 135%; Vitamin C: 45%; Calcium: 16%

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tackling Day 1: Working Out With Pets

I have always found that day 1 of any goal is never the hardest.  Motivation is at the forefront of our psyche and eating right and exercising are a breeze.  Yesterday wasn't that bad.  For once, I didn't forget to eat (this is a side effect of being a writer and an artist...when I get "in the zone" of creating, I lose track of time), and I actually scheduled time to work out.  I'm still waiting for my P90 workout to arrive in the mail, but I have plenty of workouts videos and I decided to pull out my Karen Voight's Yogasculpt as an easy transition into working out.  And I'm happy I chose that one.  There is something to be said for yoga realigning your spine and this morning, I actually work up without the usual back pain I have grown accustomed to. Of course, working out with pets can be challenging.  It is amazing how they can ignore me for hours on end but the minute I put on a movie, or pull out my yoga mat, they want to play.  When I lo...

Recipe! Cinnamon French Toast Breakfast Wrap

Ingredients 1 (34g) Whole-Wheat Tortilla (approx. 100 calories, no added sugar) 1 tablespoon Peanut Butter, all-natural 1/3 medium Banana, diced 2 tablespoons Blueberries 2 Eggs 1 tsp Cinnamon 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract Other optional filling ingredients: Strawberries, diced; Maple Syrup, Nut Butter, Shredded Coconut (unsweetened) Directions Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and prepare it with an all-natural cooking spray or coconut oil. Whisk eggs, cinnamon and vanilla together in a shallow bowl. Dip wrap in shallow bowl, making sure to cover the entire wrap with the egg mixture. There will be leftover egg mixture. Lay the wrap flat on the skillet and cook for about 2-4 minutes on each side. Transfer wrap to a plate and use the same heated skillet (you may need more cooking spray or oil) to cook up the leftover egg mixture, omelet style. Cooking your egg omelet or pancake style makes the egg easier to transfer to your wrap and it also will...

Temptation

temptation [ tem(p)ˈtāSHən ] NOUN a desire to do something, especially something wrong or unwise There is nothing stronger than the pull of temptation when you are on a diet.  I don't know about you, but when I tell myself I want to eat better, I am usually drawn to the food that I was never interested in before my diet.  But somehow...when I know it is "restricted"...that is when I want to eat ten times of it. Many of the struggles I have heard from friends and loved ones when trying to eat healthier, is the availability of the tempting food within their house.  Living alone makes this easier for me because I am the one in charge of the grocery shopping.  Avoiding the aisles filled with tantalizing delights is a breeze.  This makes it even easier to avoid when I am at home, because it just isn't there for me to eat.  When I have a craving for sweet or salty goodness, I have only fruit or nuts to choose from.  Truth be told, I'm n...