This week - Pasta... YES!! Pasta

Hello everyone, I know I've been slow in posting this week.  I have been having trouble deciding on what ingredient to do.  There are so many that I want to discuss, that require a little more time than I seem to be having this week!  So I've decided to do pasta this week.  I know what you're thinking.  Pasta, how can this be healthy.  I think preparation is a factor and portion size is a factor.  Oh, the dreaded -- portion size.  There I said it.  When you decide on pasta for dinner portion size is definintely a factor.  41 grams of carbs per 1/2 cup uncooked serving.  That's a lot of carbs.  But, the saviour, 7 grams of protein, a little more than one boiled egg.  AND zero "0" sodium.  Unless you add it pasta uncooked has no sodium.
As I go through the rest of the week, we'll talk about how to rein in your pasta portion size.  How to enjoy just enough, but not too much.  I am not a believer in completely removing anything from ones diet, carbs have their time and place.  Below is the basic average spaghetti nutritional value from http://www.dececcousa.com/.  You can use this as a baseline for pasta, however, there are a lot of pastas out there that have added nutrients, added protein and etc.  The key is to make sure you know what you are buying by checking out the label.  My red lights go off when I see a lot of sodium, a lot of fat and no fiber.

Cooking pasta is easy.  Today I'll just go over what I put in the pot of water.  Simple really.

1 TBSP olive oil

1 tsp salt

Pasta cooked to your liking, add pasta to already boiling water.  Cook until al dente or until soft.  Your preference on that one.   

Reserve some pasta water for recipes if you like.  Some of the recipes I'll do this week will include pasta water. 

Enjoy!