Diet Recipe: Italian Cheesy Pasta

A lower calorie Italian pasta recipe by Diet Bites.

Are you longing for your favorite Italian food yet your new weight loss plan discourages such? If so, we have a delicious pasta recipe that can fit well into almost-any weight loss plan.

It requires the minimal of ingredients, is easy to prepare and yes - it contains pasta.

Most grains that are prepared warm such as rice, couscous and pasta contain about 200 calories per cup. That can be a steep base to work with in comparison to say....a lettuce based salad which is pressed to contain 25 calories.

Therefore, we have to make the other ingredients in the pasta recipe work in tandem so that the caloric and dietary fat values remain as low as possible. To do such, we need look no further than our healthy garden where the nutritional vegetable specimens grow.

For this Italian pasta recipe, we're going to be adding chopped onion, chopped bell peppers and sliced mushrooms - all of which are very low in caloric and fat values yet extreme in nutritional values. And they add bulk and flavor to this recipe.

Let's get started cooking, shall we? And before we forget, serve this Italian pasta with a side salad of chopped lettuce, tomatoes and sliced cucumber along with your favorite light, low calorie salad dressing. Also enjoy one serving of whole grain crusty bread and a low calorie beverage. If you use margarine, opt for the reduced fat varieties.

Recipe Ingredients for Italian Cheesy Pasta Note: graphic purchased for commercial use.

1 cup of cooked pasta, well drained, 200 calories
1/2 cup of your favorite marinara - we allowed 50 calories
1/4 cup of chopped onion
1/4 cup of chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup of sliced button mushrooms
1/4 cup of shredded gruyere cheese, 100 calories

Using a bit of cooking spray, sauté the vegetables in a small non-stick pan on the stovetop. Cook until the onions appear translucent. Next, add the marinara to the pan and cook until bubbly.

The prepared pasta should still be very warm when you put it on the plate.

If the serving plate that you are using for your meal is okay to use in the microwave, you can warm it for about thirty seconds. With the plate being warm as the food is added, it will take much longer for it to cool down.

Add the pasta to the warm plate. Next, top with the hot marinara sauce and vegetable mix. Finish off the dish by topping with the shredded gruyere cheese.

The Italian pasta contains about 400 calories total. The added side salad contains minimal calories as it is prepared with very low calorie vegetables and topped with low fat salad dressing.

Keep tabs on the caloric value of the whole grain crusty bread in order to keep the values as low as possible.

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