Baked Whole Wheat Penne with Beef and Summer Veggies
I’ve mentioned a few times in the last couple years that I’ve been shying away from making too many pasta recipes, as I’ve had to keep a closer eye on my weight (for annoying and boring reasons like injuries and stress). But I have found a couple recipes that strike a good balance between feeling like delicious pasta goodness and not being just a calorie and carb bomb.
My baked ziti with chicken sausage and summer veggies was one such recipe, but I thought that it could be even healthier without feeling like I’m giving something up. I usually make it with Trader Joe’s chicken sausage, but that adds quite a lot of calories, so I swapped that for lean ground beef or venison. You can do it meatless as well, I’ve accidentally done that a few times and while you don’t get nearly the protein, it’s still very satisfying
I also used whole wheat penne or ziti instead of regular pasta, and packed in even more veggies so that my pasta to veggie ratio was about 1:1. The core vegetables here are zucchini, squash, and tomato, but you can add other veggies if you want (I’ve thrown an orange pepper in before, for instance).
Baked Fontina Pasta with Brussels Sprouts & Sage Breadcrumbs
Gooey, salty goodness—that’s what this recipe is in a nutshell. It is my sworn duty to share this amazingness with you.
I’ve had my eye on it for a couple months now, but just hadn’t found the right time to make it. I actually even started to make it one Sunday…bought the ingredients, pasta water boiling, started to shred the brussels sprouts. And then my craving for nachos became too much and I stopped mid-chop. Because the heart wants what the heart wants, and the heart wanted nachos. And the knifework still hurt because of my sprained thumb, which was my excuse.
But I definitely came back to it a few weeks later when the brussels sprouts looked good. And boy, was it worth it. Because this is the very definition of comfort food, and it’s so easy. It’s also surprisingly healthy for a cheesy pasta bake, since the bechamel is made with the starchy pasta water instead of the traditional milk. The result is a slightly thinner, silky sauce that clings to every crevice of your ruffly pasta, and doesn’t leave you feeling weighed down. And that’s a win-win.READ THE POST