Goal: Smart Healthy Tasty Recipes
As the carb-free diet craze comes to an end, pasta dishes are making a bit of a comeback. And although some carbohydrates should still be avoided, pasta can totally be part of a healthy, low-fat diet plan.
I think this comes as somewhat of a relief to most of you out there since enjoying food is something you never want to lose track of and so we’re going to look at 5 easy and healthy pasta recipes to keep you fit and energized.
A good reminder is also that when it comes to carbohydrates, you never want to cut them out completely. Carbs play an important role in the digestion of protein, for example, and also help sustain a number of energy systems in your body.
So for those of you out there who still want to have pasta for dinner, my recommendation would be that you try and have an earlier dinner than usual and at least 3-4 hours before you go to sleep. This is a powerful trick that a lot of athletes and even fitness models will use to load their muscles with carbohydrates so they can utilize all that energy and go hard at the gym the next day.
Just for clarification, we don’t want to forget that eating highly processed and refined carbohydrates, like white flour and white rice is not where we’re going here. All of these recipes will get you to reinvent the dish with whole wheat or whole grain pasta, or even other alternatives like brown rice pasta.
As a side note, if you are completely focused on cutting down on your midsection you may want to look at my full 7 day/week Sexy Flat Abs Meal Plan, the feedback on the results has been pretty awesome on these.
Now let’s take a look at these healthy pasta recipes…
Easy Healthy Pasta Recipe #1 – Lemon Shrimp Primavera
Ingredients:
- 1 pound of peeled and deveined shrimp
- 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 6 ounces of whole grain spaghettini or linguine
- 1 roasted red pepper, chopped
- ½ teaspoon of grated lemon zest
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions: Cook the pasta first, and when cooked to desired consistency, drain and coat with olive oil. Coat the shrimp in lemon juice and grill in a non-stick pan with some cooking spray, 2-3 minutes per side. Add the shrimp, roasted red pepper, lemon zest, and salt and pepper to the pasta and toss. Makes 4 servings.
Easy Healthy Pasta Recipe #2 – Penne with Fresh Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
