Healthy Recipes: Rainbow Pasta

With Forks Over Knives still heavy on my mind I prepared dinner last night. My husband is out of town so there would be no grumbling if I went meatless. But meatless...meatless...How can I do this? While I'm all about the fruits and veggies and making sure they are present nightly at the dinner table, I'm not really sure I know how to cook a balanced meal without meat.

I can cook. I can follow a recipe. But I'm not all that smooth when it comes to thinking outside the box. At least the recipe box. I decided I would give it my best shot and just look what I came up with! Isn't it pretty? So colorful! That's why I decided to call it "Rainbow Pasta".

I'm sure this isn't all that creative in the minds of "real" cooks, but I was impressed. The kids complained a bit about the new dish as they often do with new things, but most of them ate it. No one asked for seconds, but at least they tried it. Me? I loved it! Delicious and less than 300 calories a serving!

Rainbow Pasta (Serves 4)

whole wheat linguine (1/2 package), prepared according to package directions
olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 small zucchini, diced
1 small yellow squash, diced
1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
dried basil, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
light Alfredo sauce (1/2 jar)
Italian blend grated cheese

Prepare pasta in boiling water. While pasta is cooking heat olive oil in saute pan. Add garlic and onion. Saute for a few minutes. Add red pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, and asparagus. Sprinkle in basil, salt, and pepper to taste. Saute until tender-crisp.

Drain pasta. Add to vegetables. Gently stir in Alfredo sauce. Serve with grated cheese on top.

You really could adapt this anyway you wanted. Change up the veggies or the spices. Use a different kind of pasta. Add meat if you want meat. So simple!

P.S. My son has a dairy allergy and my daughter has Celiac disease. Instead of making three different meals each night I make adaptions to what I'm already preparing. In this case I boiled up some GF pasta in a separate pan. I set aside sauteed vegetables for Elle's pasta and then added Alfredo sauce to hers separately. For Dee, I took out a serving of combined pasta and veggies before I added the cheese sauce. A little bit of a juggling act, but absolutely doable.

Week Workouts and Thoughts about "Forks Over Knives"

I went on a bike ride today with my littlest in tow in the trailer. Her and her baby and stuffed dog. There really is something to be said for having three kids in school and one 25 pounder at home. It makes getting exercise done a tad easier. We biked around the nearby neighborhoods, up and down hills, for 9 miles. I chilled out mentally to my Priscilla Ahn Pandora station while my thighs and bum buuuuuurrrrned. And if I was being honest--which I generally am, almost to a fault--those areas could use all the burn they can get.

(Workouts so far this week: Monday was an hour of Zumba and a half hour walk after the kids were in bed. Tuesday I got my tired bum out of bed and went for an 4 mile run/1 mile walk before the sun was up. Then P90X Ab Ripper and a few reps of push ups and squats.)

Today my brain is full of thoughts on a movie I watched on Netflix yesterday. "Forks Over Knives", a film promoting a plant-based diet. It really is something for everyone to see whether you are a vegetarian or not. The evidence that eating meat and dairy is directly related to cancer is astounding.

While I don't plan on becoming a full blown vegetarian any time soon--Hey! I like a good juicy steak sometimes too!--I do believe that having a diet full of fruits and vegetables and whole grains can NOT be a bad thing. I have never really struggled to eat my fruits and veggies (Thank you, Mom and Dad!), I've never been all that big on meat, and over the last year I gradually cut most dairy out of my diet on my own. So...I'm already kind of leaning that way.

My seven year old son has been allergic to milk since birth. My husband and I have always fretted that he is not and will not develop properly due to lack of all that "healthy" milk fat. "Milk does a body good", right? According to "Forks Over Knives", Dee may be better off than all of us! If nothing else, I'm grateful to let go of the guilt I've felt since we discovered his dairy allergy. Turns out there is evidence that you can live, and live well, without milk. (yea!)

My husband is not as impressed as I am. The man loves his meat. I think he might be more accepting of one of our children telling us they are homosexual than they want to be a vegetarian. (I HOPE I am joking about that.) He is pretty suspicious about this whole vegan thing and thinks it's just another thing I've concocted up to make him suffer. As if serving fruits and vegetables consistently at the dinner table wasn't enough.

I have no idea what the future will bring for our family, especially with the antagonism I feel from my spouse. Honestly, his opinion needs to be taken into account too. But I do feel we would only be doing good to eat even more fresh fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, less processed food, and less meat. (This is something the scriptures have told us anyway!) As the mother and key influencer in my family's life I need to learn how to prepare more vegetarian meals and in such a way that they are appealing to my kids and even my manly meat-eater.

Have you seen "Forks Over Knives"? What are your thoughts?