Pesto crusted Italian Garlic Bread

Pesto crusted Italian garlic bread is a great compliment to any pasta dish. It adds color and flavor to the side of any pasta dish. You can purchase prepackaged Dinner roll dough, or finished bread rolls in the bakery section at your local supermarket.

What you need:

• Dinner rolls
  
• Pesto (You can purchase already made pesto, or make your own click here for a great pesto recipe)NOTE : A lot of commercial pesto sauces contain vegetable oil which is high in omega 6 fat so make sure its made with just olive oil to ensure it is the healthiest.
  
• Olive oil
• Butter
• Parmesan cheese

Method:

1. Mix three table spoons of olive oil (or as needed) with about two table spoons butter and melt in microwave for 20 seconds or until fully melted.
   
2. Brush on finished bread rolls. Brush a second layer of pesto then cover with Parmesan cheese.
3. Put in oven until cheese starts to melt, remove and serve
   

Tangy Balsamic Pasta Salad

Things you need:

(serves 6)

• 1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons Water
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Pepper
• 1 large clove Garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup Small broccoli flowerets
• 1/2 cup Small cauliflower flowerets
• 1/2 cup Julienned carrots
• 1/2 cup Julienned red bell pepper
• 4 cups Cooked bow-tie pasta, cooked without salt or fat
• 2 tablespoons Fresh basil, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup Grated Asiago cheese

Method:

1. Combine vinegar, water, oil, salt, pepper and garlic in a jar; cover tightly, and shake vigorously. Set aside.
2. Drop broccoli, cauliflower and carrot into a large saucepan of boiling water; cook 30 seconds. Drain. Pour cold water over vegetables; drain. Combine drained vegetables, bell pepper, pasta, basil and cheese in a large bowl.
3. Add vinegar mixture, and toss gently. Cover and chill.

Health Information:
Calories: 199 (15% from fat); Protein: 7.7 g; Fat: 3.4 g (sat: 1.1 g; mono: 1.4 g; poly: 0.5 g); Carbohydrate: 34.3 g; Fiber: 2.9 g; Cholesterol: 3 mg; Iron: 2 mg; Sodium: 203 mg; Calcium: 81 mg.

Awesome healthy pasta salad recipe that I found at Cd Kitchen.

Portabella Mushroom Burger?

Okay I know this is wrong, very wrong. I made a blog just for healthy pasta recipes and here I am posting a burger recipe. Well this isn't any ordinary burger recipe this is one to be recognized and not categorized!

Things you need:

• 1 portabella mushroom cap large
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 Small onion finely diced
• 1 pinch of cumin
• 1 tablespoon balsamic
• 1 tablespoon soy
• 1 table spoon worcheshire
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 Hamburger bun
• 1 Slice of Swiss cheese

NOTE: You can add julienned onions that are sauteed in a few drops worcheshire (worcheshire onions) to the top of the mushroom. Or, for some extra flavor add some fried shallot rings on top of cooked mushroom, otherwise regular hamburger toppings apply.

Method:

1. Mix onions, garlic, olive oil, balsamic, soy, worcheshire, and pinch of cumin to a bowl and marinate mushroom in for 10-15 minutes. NOTE: Do not marinate for longer as the mushroom will absorb to much liquid.
2. Grill the mushroom in a George Foreman, or grill until tender. You can also saute mushroom on both sides until tender as well. After mushroom is half done melt cheese on top.
3. Now put in bun with toppings and enjoy!

Baked Pasta Primavera with Tangy Zucchini

Primavera (springtime) is a very healthy pasta dish, typically made from the much missed spring vegetables that weren't available during the Italian winters. Its a light sauce, and a very healthy one as well. NOTE: If you have a George Foreman Grill , its better to cook these vegetables that way rather than saute.

What you need:

serves 1-2

• 2 tablespoons balsamic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (as marinade don't worry olive oil has plenty of healthy properties containing a good ratio of omega 3's to 6's, and plenty of antioxidants)
• 1/2 medium onion medium chop
• 1 carrot peeled and medium chop
• 1 Zucchini sliced at an angle, or chopped
• 1 cup Vegetable stock (A good alternative to chicken stock, if your not a vegan, I would suggest using chicken stock.)
• 1 - 2 cups Parmesan cheese
• About half a bunch of cilantro chopped
• Cherry tomatoes halved, or regular beef steak tomatoes diced
• Angle hair pasta
• Whole Mozzarella for garnish

METHOD:

1. Cook angel hair pasta and set aside.
2. Toss onions and zucchini in the balsamic, olive oil, and cilantro mixture. salt and pepper (use salt sparingly), then set aside to marinate for 10 minutes.
3. Flash sautee (saute at a high temperature fast to brown the vegetables fast without overcooking vegetables.) the zuchini and onion mixture at medium high for 2-3 minutes (stir constantly) or until onions and zucchini starts browning
4. Stirr in tomatoes, vegetable stock and carrots. Cook down for 1 minutes on medium low.
5. Stir in cheese while sauce is simmering until melted, then stir in your angel hair pasta.
6. Put all contents in casserole dish.
7. Now Julienne mozzarella (cut in long match like strips) and add to the top of pasta.
8. Broil on high 400-500 degrees for 4 minutes or until mozzarella starts to brown on top.

Fillet Mignon Pasta with Shrimp, Vine Ripened tomatoes, and Creamy Tomato Basil Sauce

"hold the forks, red meat is not healthy!"


Fillet Mignon pasta has to be one of my favorite healthy pasta choices. Before you start clutching your Jenny Craig menu, read why I beg to differ with angry vegans around the world. I know what your thinking, all red meat is unhealthy. Well that is an unfair generalization, because it really depends on what part of the cow you use. Fillet Mignon is the strip on the back of the cow and tends to be a lot leaner as well as extremely tender. Fillet Mignon is traditionally wrapped in bacon because it lacks fat content, and this lean red meat contains nutrients such as, iron, zinc, selenium, and vitamin D (Click here to see a complete list of nutrients that lean meat contains). This makes Fillet Mignon an excellent choice in poultry for this healthy pasta sauce!

TIP: I like to toss the Mignon in balsamic and extra virgin olive oil mixture, which results in a tangy, savory meat that has a subtle sweetness reminiscent of bourbon.

Ingredients:

Serves about two:

• 6-8oz of Fillet Mignon or lean beef
• Fresh basil
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 1 Teaspoon Balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Olive oil
• 1 cup Chicken Stock
• 1 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 10 pieces of shrimp
• 1/2 small size yellow onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 cup Parmesan (don't use low fat Parmesan)
• Angel hair, or linguine. If you chose to use linguine, then make sure sauce is thick enough; you can do this by adding more pine nuts. In culinary terms we call thisProper Viscosity.
  
  

NOTE: This recipe, like my others isn't set in stone, you can add your special touch or make it healthier by omitting the beef and adding tofu marinated in 3 equal parts soy, balsamic, and Worcester sauce (about a tablespoon each part).

METHOD:

1. Half cherry tomatoes, saute for about three minutes and then cook on medium for 10 minutes.
2. Rough chop onions, mince garlic, and toss around in bowl with salt and pepper along with teaspoon of balsamic.
3. After cherry tomatoes have been cooking for 10 minutes add onions and garlic to pot / sauce pan, let cook for 10 more minutes.
4. Put mixture in blender with pine nuts and chicken broth until smooth
5. Put back in pot and simmer on medium for three minutes and add cheese slowly while stirring, chop and add basil.
6. Cut fillet Mignon in bite size pieces, add a splash of balsamic to the fillet Mignon, salt and pepper. Sear at high heat on both sides with a little of olive oil. NOTE: Do not over cook Fillet Mignon cook for about a minute on both sides, if you like your meat cooked well then cook it to about medium (just until blood starts showing on top then turn).
7. Add fillet Mignon to sauce, don't forget to taste your sauce and adjust with salt and pepper. Remember a good chef constantly tastes his sauce! Also if its too salty don't panic, just add a little water and a pinch of basil. If its bland add salt very slowly. The most pivotal part of making a delicious healthy pasta dish is to adjust properly.
8. Now lastly, saute shrimp and add to sauce a long with pan drippings.

Viola! You have a four star recipe that will impress your hot date or will make a spectacular family meal. Also if you want, you can add a pinch of basil to the sauce while in the blender for that extra basil flavor.

Baked Pasta with Gorgonzola and Spinach

For baked pasta, you can use any pasta noodle you like as long as you can keep the noodles moist while baking. A common problem is that the noodles will get hard when being baked at high temperatures. I like to boil my noodles and sauce first, add sauce and then flash broil the pasta in the oven under very high temperature to finish them off, or until cheese on top is au gratin (click for defintion).

A common misconception is that baked pasta is healthier since its baked. Right? Wrong! Baked pasta can actually be more unhealthy than any other pasta dish because it needs to be high in fat content, and be coated with ample sauce that is usually cream based. If the baked noodles weren't covered with enough sauce then the noodles could dry out during the baking process. or just won't be as good. Of course there are tomato based sauces in baked pastas, but in my opinion, they are just not as good.

So how do we come up with this healthy, fairy tale pasta sauce that is so creamy yet so healthy?
I know you waited all your life for this so i will make this quick; pine nuts. Yes I know Italians have been doing this for centuries but i devised a method that is beyond this world. I have had reports that a person just ate this pasta recipe for a month straight and lost an incredible amount of weight. A pasta fast is unheard of, that is the very reason why she lost so much weight. She was not dieting but indulging, little did she know that the pasta recipe was the healthiest thing you could indulge in, on this planet. A true paradigm shift in the word indulging! Maybe because of me, Webster will change the word indulging to dieting (don't mean to toot my own horn but this pasta is truly amazing. Don't listen to me, make the recipe so you can toot my horn and don't forget to comment.)


Here is the recipe made simple and healthy!

Items that you need:

• pine nuts (1 cup)
  
• chicken stock (1/2 cup)
  
• yellow onion (1/2 of a medium sized onion)
  
• balsamic vinegar (about a tablespoon)
  
• cherry and plum tomatoes (1/2 pound plum and a pint of cherry)
  
• fresh basil (about1/2 cup chopped)
  
• Gorgonzola cheese (to taste)
• Garlic (two cloves)
• Spinach

Method of cooking:

1. Julienne onions (half the onion and chop to make long match stick looking pieces, if this is difficult don't worry just rough chop any way you like but just make sure all pieces are even to ensure even cooking). Toss onions in balsamic vinegar and pepper mixture. Set aside.
2. Boil noodles, when done toss in extra virgin olive oil and set aside.
   
3. Put pine nuts in blender with about a half a handful of cherry tomatoes. Blend and add chicken stock slowly until you reach desired consistency (desired consistency should be thick as pancake batter)
4. Chop tomatoes and lightly salt and pepper them (both plum and the rest of the cherry tomatoes). get a saute pan extremely hot and add tomatoes then onions. Add your garlic and turn burner down to medium heat, let simmer for 30 minutes.
   
5. Add basil and your pine nut/cherry tomato mixture and cook for 5 more minutes.
6. Mix sauce spinach with noodles and toss with Gorgonzola cheese and spinach to taste. Make sure noodles are coated liberally The amount of Gorgonzola cheese is entirely up to you. If you choose Gorgonzola cheese over your husband they use as much as you want. If you like the taste of Gorgonzola cheese, then add a few tablespoons worth. Gorgonzola can go a long way.
   
7. Place in casserole dish and Sprinkle a little Gorgonzola on top. Cook at 375 Degrees for 10 minutes or until au gratin (click for definition).
   

You can make variations of this recipe easily. Sometimes you need to add extra chicken stock, pine nuts or tomatoes. This is based on your taste. Basically, this recipe is not set in stone, so have fun!

NOTE: This is a lactose free pasta sauce besides the cheese. You can substitute lactose free cheese if you would like. I don't have anything against cows, but I am a little bit careful when it comes to heavy cream as a base. Heavy cream is butter in its natural state, so you can imagine how fattening this can be. If your lactose intolerant then this recipe would be perfect for you, but you couldn't use Gorgonzola cheese. I could make speeches around the world gallantly praising Gorgonzola cheese with a cape, but if you don't like it you don't like it. So that being said, a cheesy substitute for all lactose intolerant civilians would be to make a white wash. A white wash (click for definition) is one part flour to one part cold water whisked. There are different variations to the exact ratio to the white wash, but equal parts is simple and ideal. You would add this slowly to your sauce until you've reached a desired thickness. The viscosity increases with temperature so its important to add white wash slowly and allow intermittent breaks to prevent the sauce from over thickening.

Tuna pizza?

I have a recipe for tuna pizza. Eww tuna pizza, I know it can sound a little gross but I will tell you this is the best kind of pizza that you will ever eat. I made this pizza once before for a women who I was dating. I was unaware that she was allergic to tuna! As I was making the dough for the pizza, she picked up the marinating tuna and told me that it smelled so good she wants to try some. Right before she ate the tuna I told her it was tuna and she freaked out. I made the pizza anyways, and after it was done she wanted to eat it because it smelled so good. She was going to eat the pizza despite her allergies, risking her life in the process. That is how good the recipe is.

Coming soon : I will be posting a step by step video of me making the famous tuna pizza.

Pink Pasta - with pine nuts instead of cream?

Pine nuts instead of heavy cream?
Pink pasta is very versatile, you can use it with fish or beef, making it a very popular sauce. The very popular staple, heavy cream, can be a bit high in fat so a substitution would have to be made. Pine nuts make a perfect substitution, all you have to do is derive the cream from the nut and viola!
But how do we do this? Its simple! There are different popular methods in doing this, but i recommend using cherry tomatoes and pine nuts in a blender with a little chicken stock (about a cup of pine nuts and 1/2 a handful of cherry tomatoes. When blended it will appear to be a really thick pinkish substance. You would add this to a tomato based pasta sauce that is ready to be served.

Well there is the theory, and here is the recipe:

Items that you need:

• pine nuts (1 cup)
  
• chicken stock (1/2 cup)
  
• yellow onion (1/2 of a medium sized onion)
  
• balsamic vinegar (about a tablespoon)
  
• cherry and plum tomatoes (1/2 pound plum and a pint of cherry)
  
• fresh basil (about1/2 cup chopped)
  
• parmesan cheese (to taste)
• Garlic (two cloves)
  

Method of cooking:

1. Julienne onions (half the onion and chop to make long match stick looking pieces, if this is difficult don't worry just rough chop any way you like but just make sure all pieces are even to ensure even cooking). Toss onions in balsamic vinegar and pepper mixture. Set aside.
2. Put pine nuts in blender with about a half a handful of cherry tomatoes. Blend and add chicken stock slowly until you reach desired consistency (desired consistency should be thick as pancake batter)
3. Chop tomatoes and lightly salt and pepper them (both plum and the rest of the cherry tomatoes). get a saute pan extremely hot and add tomatoes then onions. Add your garlic and turn burner down to medium heat, let simmer for 30 minutes.
   
4. Add basil and your pine nut/cherry tomato mixture and cook for 5 more minutes.

Viola! There you go! You know have a four star gourmet sauce! This is the healthiest, most fulfilling sauce that you will ever make. This pasta sauce recipe is sure to impress just about anyone. Oh yeah and one more thing, don't forget to cook the noodles! I would say the best pasta pair for this sauce would have to be fettuccine or angel hair. Enjoy!

Guiltless Alfredo

We all love Fettuccine Alfredo but feel a relentless guilt after we eat it. Why does it have to be so good but contain 20-50 grams of fat?

Well I came up with a recipe that is extremely low in fat and tastes equally as great if not better. Its very inexpensive and easy to do, I would recommend this recipe to anyone who wants to eat healthier but has irresistible cravings for not so healthy food!

Guiltless Alfredo

WHAT YOU NEED:

1-2 servings

• Skim Milk (you just need about a few cups, so a quart will do)
  
• 1/2 Onions (yellow onion)
• 5 Garlic cloves (to taste, if you are not a big fan of garlic you can use less)
• Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Simmer milk in a sauce pan with garlic and chopped onion, milk doesn't reduce so measure the milk to the amount of sauce you want. (4/5 cups) For example if you want 6 cups sauce then you would add 6 cups milk. Simmer on low for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally being careful not to burn milk on bottom of pan.
   
2. Strain milk into bowl, throw away onion and garlic pieces.
3. Put onion/garlic flavored milk into another sauce pan, increase heat to medium/medium low. Wait until milk simmers then add Parmesan cheese while stirring constantly until thickened to desired consistancy.
   
4. Salt & Pepper to taste.

Well there you go! A very healthy way to eat bad. Note: White truffle oil is a great investment and a couple drops can flavor this whole pasta dish and bring it to a new level.