I think a pasta-marinara setup is a great place to sneak in the extra veggies because it's not the feeling of "I am eating a whole mouthful of vegetables!" since they kind of get covered in sauce and are a little but cheesy. I steamed the veggies first, so they'd be sift when incorporated into the pasta/sauce mixture.
I incorporated red beans because they're really pretty neutral flavor-wise, and beans are good for you and FULL of fiber-- which will help keep your belly happy for longer before it begins demanding snacks of you. You could easily skip the beans and instead use a lean meat here (some grilled chicken or ground turkey would do the trick).
Don't give me your cottage-cheesy frowny face. I put cottage cheese in it because it bumps the protein a little (again, helping you feel full) without really adding a lot of flavor or texture to the dish. Lots of people take issue with the texture of cottage cheese, but in this amount you really are getting more of your texture from the veggies and will barely notice the extra protein you snuck in there.
Cook/drain the pasta, steam the veggies in the microwave, and add them to the pasta in the pot. Add the black beans and the pasta sauce, heat it up a little, and added the cottage cheese last. Top with parmesan and enjoy!
One serving will ring up 350 calories, 59g carbs, 3g fat, and 23g protein. Not bad!
Ingredients (remember, this makes 2 servings):
1 serving (2 oz dry) Barilla Plus Multigrain Pasta (it's sold in a yellow box. I used elbows)
1 cup each, chopped into small pieces:
- yellow squash (about half a squash)
- zucchini (about half a zucchini)
- carrots
1 cup red kidney beans (I used canned beans, rinsed them well)
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 cup pasta sauce (I used Classico Tomato Basil because it's lower in fat and sugar)
2 tsp grated parmesan (I used Kraft because I'm not picky)
My handy dandy kitchen scale helped me measure out a serving of pasta:
The veggies, chopped and ready to rumble:
Red Beans
Cottage Cheese
Pasta Sauce
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