Alternatives to pasta?

kbrogan78

Tonight I made spagetti squash and instead of treating it as a side dish, I put marinara and meatballs with it to eat as my main dish. It was FABULOUS! It didn't taste anything like pasta, of course, but it made a great vehicle for the sauce. And now I'm thinking that perhaps what I love most about pasta isn't actually the pasta, but rather the sauce on top. Great news, since a big ol' dish of pasta has lots of calories but my huge dish of squash marinara, including meatballs, came in under 400 calories.

I have no plans to entirely cut out pasta but being able to use something with fewer calories on a more regular basis, would be great. Other ideas for alternatives to pasta?

george_ie_girl

For pasta I usually get wholemeal pasta or gluten free pasta - I try and just have a little bit of it - oh my God I love pasta so much! Thanks for the tip!

Here's another tip - not exactly pasta but I have a good substitute for rice - grate a heap of cauliflower then boil or steam it! Use as rice! Barely any calories and great with some of the high calorie Asian stir fries.

99Tinkerbell

Sounds GREAT can't wait to give it a try. I don't think any substitute for pasta, I love it also. I hope someone might have an idea. I also get the whole wheat.

teamiconic

I use spaghetti squash Shirataki Noodles link is below

http://www.house-foods.com/Tofu/products_detail.aspx?id=107

heyghoge

zucchini 'pasta' - cut the zucchini into ribbons with a mandolin, saladacco, or a vegetable peeler. leave raw or cook a bit, as you like.

623Hernandez

I have used shredded cabbage.

sugarbone

I like to have wholegrain pasta in small amounts with delicious spinach/garlic and lots of chicken.

shakybabe

I've never tried to replace pasta but I saw a recipie for cauliflower rice once that I was thinking of trying myself as I tend to eat more rice than pasta.

I think you just put a cauli in a food processor and ground it till its like rice then steamed it in microwave. I was thinking of trying it as I love curry and rice., would make a nice vegetable curry (you could add diced chicken or turkey meat too if you prefer, or tofu/quorn) and you do a lighter sauce, maybe watered down and with a bit of milk at the end to make it creamier colour instead of full fat cream etc. That way the sauce has less calories too.

michaelachallis

i found chinese egg noodles in my local asian supermarket, about 150 cal per serve, 4.5g of protein and less than 1g of fat.
i think they work out better than most pasta because of the extra protein.

Cdcaldwe

If you can find it DreamFields pasta only nets five grams of carbs per serving. Some way they have developed it, supposed to be good for diabetics.

AKosky585

shirataki noodles....I am eating low carb, so I recently tried these. They really have no taste....just whatever you decide to add to it is what it tastes like. They aren't bad at all...

20 calories per serving, and only 2 or 3 carbs. They are in the refrigerated section in dairy/by tofu in my grocery store. They come in a little bag in spaghetti or fettuccine.

gwenmf

bump

liezelcha

bump

Vegan_Chick

zucchini 'pasta' - cut the zucchini into ribbons with a mandolin, saladacco, or a vegetable peeler. leave raw or cook a bit, as you like.

It is worth buying a mandolin to make zucchini noodles. They totally cure your pasta craving and have barely any calories in them!

TheDrBuchanan

I second the DreamFields pasta. It tastes just like regular!

kbrogan78

Thanks for the ideas everyone!

I actually have a ton of zucchini at the moment and a friend gave me a mandolin that she didn't use, so I think I'll try that next week.

purple_orchid

Fiber Gourmet Lite Pasta = happy