pasta

Growing up, my sister and I were vegetarians, in a family full of meat-eaters. So, our dinner plates often seemed incomplete because our family didn’t really know how to work around our diet restrictions.

However, one night, my mother was making tuna noodle casserole, and decided to switch things up a bit, in order to fit our needs. She made a separate, vegetarian-friendly casserole dish that has been one of my all-time favorite go-to comfort foods ever since. It’s one of those things where you really can’t help yourself. I’m known to go for seconds (okay, thirds).

If you haven't yet gotten your pumpkin on this season, this may be the recipe you've been waiting for! Who doesn't like mac and cheese on a chilly fall day – heck, who doesn't like mac and cheese any day of the week?!

One of my favorite toppings for pasta, breads and anything savory is this homemade seasoning. With significantly less sodium and fat than dairy parmesan, this recipe is not just healthier, it also gives you a more interesting variety of flavors, while providing an amazingly cheesy texture to anything you top it with. Plus, it is so easy to make--simply throw all the ingredients into a blender and you’re done! I recommend storing it in a glass jar or other airtight container to keep it fresh and ready to use for an extended period of time.

Supplies:

Blender

While there are several healthy pasta varieties that are making a comeback, one of the healthiest alternatives to date is spaghetti squash. In fact, 1 cup of spaghetti squash noodles only has 42 calories, compared to about 200 calories for 1 cup of traditional pasta, according to the USDA National Nutrient Database.

Pasta continues to get a lot of flack from the healthy-living community. Diet trends teach us to nay-say carbs and gluten, and research shows that enriched white and semolina pastas contain little-to-no nutrients. Here to fight the anti-pasta movement, however, is a new generation of whole-grain and rice pastas that are breaking the pasta mold.