Kid friendly alternatives to pasta

farmers_daughter
farmers_daughter Posts: 1,632 Member
edited February 19 in Recipes
And spaghetti squash can't be one. I about killed the neighborhood trying to cook one.

I already have quinoa on the menu even tho the kids aren't fond of it.

What else.

I'm trying to avoid/limit pasta, rice, breads etc....

Replies

  • Mangopickle
    Mangopickle Posts: 1,509 Member
    Zoodles, made from zucchini. Get a spiralizer our lay your grater on its side to grate the zucchini in to noodles, cook and sauce, presto!
    You can't let your one bad experience with spaghetti squash get you down. Split it, scrape seeds, quarter it, put it in micro safe covered casserole with 1/3 c water and keep nuking on high in 4 min segments til you can poke through skin with fork, shred and go. Usually only takes 8-12 min.
    My favorite way of limiting whole wheat pasta for my daughter is always having a 2-1 ratio frozen/fresh veg to pasta. Example, my easy pasta bake. 1 cup tri color rotini in boiling salted water. When pasta is finished before I drain I throw in 2 cups of frozen mixed veg. They cook in about 1 min. Drain, add sauce and meat, put in casserole, cover with cheese bake til bubbly. This makes 4 servings!!
    I no longer eat wheat, rice or potato tho my husband and daughter do. Like you, we keep the portions small. I make starches out of chickpea flour. As I type this I am noshing on Muthia, Indian steamed chickpea dumplings(I skip the pan frying in oil part). I also make chickpea crepes for my own wraps. I have seen a recipe for crunchy chick pea tacos but, I haven't made that yet. I saw on Pinterest a recipe for zucchini tots that I am going to attempt. I know I have seen a chick pea gnocchi recipe somewhere so I will attempt that soon. A lot of people layer squash like noodles in lasagna. Moussaka is really great but better to make a big batch and freeze 1 cause it's a lot of work.
    My family loves house brand Shirataki noodles. We make Vietnamese pho soup with them-actually this is all we make with them. We just replace the rice noodles with the Shirataki. But we love our pho.
  • suncluster
    suncluster Posts: 539 Member
    My husband and son loves their starches so I make one at every meal. I usually make a sauce to go with the meal too.

    Corn on the Cob is my son's favorite.
    Pasta
    Millet
    White, Brown,wild rice
    Farro
    bulgur
    Cous cous (regular and isreali)
    barley

    I take a lot less than they do. I am the queen of the 1/4C serving and I am low carb too.

    It is a great skill to learn to diet without imposing your diet on your family. IMO if you can achieve the willpower to control your eating around your family then you can do it anywhere. This is the key to making a positive lifestyle change in your own life. Your family will get the health benefits in the long run by serving them a varied menu of nutrient rich foods.


    P.S. I must get a spiralizer. I have been wanting one for quite a while. There is soooo much you can do with it http://www.inspiralized.com/
  • maroonmango211
    maroonmango211 Posts: 908 Member
    Agree with Zoodles!!! We use them a lot for stir fry's and lasagne.
  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
    The zoodles are great idea for italian pastas. And to mask it better, you can opt to do half and half...so half regular noodles and half the zoodles. This is what I do...or just add more vegetables and stuff. Like for ziti, I half the noodles and add in chopped squash, diced tomatoes, etc... So that I still get to enjoy the pasta, but I just am not consuming as much as it.

    For things like home made lo meins and stuff, just go with 8oz of noodles and fill in the rest with shredded steamed cabbage.
  • Mangopickle
    Mangopickle Posts: 1,509 Member
    The zoodles are great idea for italian pastas. And to mask it better, you can opt to do half and half...so half regular noodles and half the zoodles. This is what I do...or just add more vegetables and stuff. Like for ziti, I half the noodles and add in chopped squash, diced tomatoes, etc... So that I still get to enjoy the pasta, but I just am not consuming as much as it.

    For things like home made lo meins and stuff, just go with 8oz of noodles and fill in the rest with shredded steamed cabbage.

    The shredded steamed cabbage idea is great. I am gonna blend it with bean sprouts and dress it like pad Thai. I really miss pad Thai.
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