Need Healthy Pasta Recipes Please

OperationSwimsuit86

I need some healthy pasta recipes that:
Are toddler friendly
Are Fish Free
Super Easy

Thanks!

laur357

https://www.skinnytaste.com/easiest-pasta-and-broccoli-recipe/
https://www.skinnytaste.com/orecchiette-pasta-with-chicken-sausage/

I like to mix any roasted vegetable with pasta and add ricotta and garlic, salt, and pepper. I also add eggs (usually poached or fried, but scrambled work too!) or baby spinach to many pasta dishes.

SharonTeresa91

Avocado basil sauce is DELICIOUS with pasta. Here’s my recipe

2 small or 1 large avocado
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Handful of basil
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup freshly grated parm
3 tbsp olive oil
Black pepper
Chilli flakes

amusedmonkey

Would a pasta soup scratch the itch for you? Because I tried this the other day and it was great:

http://vegiehead.com/recipes/lentil-vegetable-and-quinoa-pasta-soup/

Francl27

Cook pasta, open jar of pasta sauce, add cheese, done.

snowflake954

I live in Italy--pasta everyday. Even in the restaurants, you can order just plain tomato sauce on any kind of pasta for toddlers. Making your own sauce is very easy. Heat a little EVOO in a sauce pan. Throw in a clove of garlic, when it's golden take it out. Put in chopped, or pureed tomatos, salt to taste. Cook-simmer about 15 min. If you can get some fresh basile throw it in when you pour the sauce on the pasta to mix. Sprinkle grated Parmigiano Reggiano on top.

WinoGelato

What's your criteria for "healthy" OP? Low calorie? Lower carb? More veggies?

AngryViking1970

I make this one a lot during Lent, adding some sauteed garlic and sliced black olives. It's good hot and cold:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/11669/greek-pasta-with-tomatoes-and-white-beans/

Lounmoun

You want recipes using pasta not recipes for homemade pasta? Because basic homemade pasta is egg, flour and water.

Pasta with marinara sauce and/or vegetables is pretty basic and kid friendly. Add some meat, cheese or beans.
My dd likes tortellini or ravioli a lot. Sometimes with just pesto on it. She likes different shapes like bow tie pasta or wacky mac. She likes pasta in casseroles or soups.
https://www.budgetbytes.com/2013/11/creamy-pesto-pasta-chicken-broccoli/
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/218255/wacky-mac-chicken-with-savory-tomato-sauce/

https://www.budgetbytes.com/category/recipes/pasta/
https://www.skinnytaste.com/main-ingredient/pasta-recipes/

WinoGelato

My kids love butter noodles with lots of parmesan cheese. When we have pasta, I usually just make them that, and then add whatever sauce/veggies/protein I'm making for myself to the plain noodles- I ask that they try the dish as I'm eating it but they've got their butter noodles to fall back on if they don't care for mine. We do that with a lot of different dishes - stir fry, they like the components - plain rice, plain chicken, plain vegetables - but put them together with a sauce and they start to get a little suspicious.

I did make lasagna last weekend and while it may not fit your definition of healthy - the kids ate it quite well and i was pretty pleased!

lemurcat12

I do fast meals with pasta a lot. Big skillet, a little olive oil (not spray, you need a bit more), pick out whatever vegetables are on hand that seem good. For example, I might start with some garlic and mushrooms, add chopped cauliflower, add zucchini (or asparagus or whatever), and sautee until partly done. Maybe add tomatoes, but I often don't. Add a fast cooking meat like shrimp (unless that counts as fish) or leftover chicken or uncooked chicken or steak (would add earlier) -- point is, whatever is convenient, could be meatless too. Then near the end add in something extra for taste like olives or pinenuts (or nothing, you can just add cheese at the end too).

When finished, add to pasta (which you were cooking while doing this) in a big bowl and toss it all together. For kid-friendly and fun, experiment with different pasta shapes.

A simple sauce that takes a bit longer would be a meat sauce (use lean ground beef or ground chicken or turkey or whatever). Saute carrots, onions, garlic, celery in olive oil; add other veg you are thinking of using (I usually add some mix of some of these: zucchini, peppers, mushrooms, sometimes cauliflower, depends what I have around), add some ground beef (mine is usually using veg to be about the same volume as the beef), sautee 'til brown, add some canned chopped tomatoes, maybe some tomato paste, simmer for a while, add herbs toward the end to taste (maybe some fresh oregano or basil). Spinach also cooks into it nicely if you want the veg to be less obvious/apparent.

I don't see why this would not be healthy too.

Nikion901

I had my pasta meal tonight ... It was spaghetti noodles with veggies and shrimp ... So good and only 300 calories for a very filling bowl ...

This made 1 serving
1 oz of dry pasta noodle ... spaghetti tonight, broken into 3 sections
2/3 cup water
1 large carrot, cut in half and then each half sliced thinly on a sharp bias
1 small red bell pepper (100 grams), cut into 1/4 inch strips
1/4 medium cooking onion (2.5 inch onion), cut into thin slices
4 ounces broccoli crown, cut into small florets, and the stem section sliced thin, then into strips
2 cloves garlic, crushed and diced
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
4 oz frozen shrimp, peeled, raw

Into a skillet over medium heat, add the water and lay in the pasta noodles. As you prep each vegetables, add it on top of the pasta in the skillet, finish with the shrimps, frozen. By this time the water in the skillet will be boiling. Cover the skillet and let cook a a few minutes, then uncover it and stir the contents, checking for the shrimps to start pinking up. Cover and continue cooking, stirring all together occasionally. When the shrimps are pink and cooked through, empty the contents of the skillet into a pasta bowl and enjoy.

Optionally, if you can spare about 40 calories, you can add 5 or 6 olives to the skillet as part of the vegetables.

My recipe tonight, with 6 green Spanish olives ... 332 calories. 43 gams carb, 6 gram fat, 31 gram protein, 875 milligram sodium, 5 gram fiber.

Note .. this, or a rendition of this, has become my go-to pasta night meal. Bonus point for me is that my cat loves shrimp when I prepare it like this and she will gobble up the tail tips from 9 or 10 medium-large shrimps as I pull them from the little shells that are left on the tips of the shrimp.

nurselisa00

SharonTeresa91 wrote: »

Avocado basil sauce is DELICIOUS with pasta. Here’s my recipe

2 small or 1 large avocado
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Handful of basil
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup freshly grated parm
3 tbsp olive oil
Black pepper
Chilli flakes

Since you have made it before do you know the calorie content for this recipe? Thanks.

maura_tasi

Pasta primavera is one of my favs! I throw whatever veggies I have in the fridge into a large skillet (peppers, zucchini, peas, mushrooms, broccoli, anything!) and sauté them up. I cook some cubed chicken and throw it in there as well. Once that's all cooked and ready to go I put the (already cooked) pasta in the skillet and mix it all up. I add Parmesan cheese and about 1/4-1/2 cup of milk and stir together until it coats the ingredients in the skillet. This takes me about 30 minutes to make and I've found it to be very kid friendly.

https://www.organizedisland.com/pasta-primavera/

I based it off of this recipe ^^ but didn't follow it exactly and ended up doing mostly my own thing. But I got the basic idea from it!

trisH_7183

maura_tasi wrote: »

Pasta primavera is one of my favs! I throw whatever veggies I have in the fridge into a large skillet (peppers, zucchini, peas, mushrooms, broccoli, anything!) and sauté them up. I cook some cubed chicken and throw it in there as well. Once that's all cooked and ready to go I put the (already cooked) pasta in the skillet and mix it all up. I add Parmesan cheese and about 1/4-1/2 cup of milk and stir together until it coats the ingredients in the skillet. This takes me about 30 minutes to make and I've found it to be very kid friendly.

https://www.organizedisland.com/pasta-primavera/

I based it off of this recipe ^^ but didn't follow it exactly and ended up doing mostly my own thing. But I got the basic idea from it!

Thank you. Will try your recipe. No kids here,but the older I get,the better “no big deal” works for a meal.

WilmaValley

What great ideas, thanks!!!!!