Video: Whole Wheat Penne w/ Salmon and Greens

Give me a plate of chicken and broccoli and very rarerly will you see me going back for seconds BUT sit me down in front of a bowl of pasta and LOOK OUT!  Somehow, I ALWAYS have room for a second round of pasta… especially white pasta!

This made me curious.

I’m not really the kind of girl who can “ban” things from her diet. When I run into a nutritional road block, I’ll sooner search for a solution than a dietary elimination (besides, anytime I have vowed to eliminate something from my diet, it never fails that I end up eating it in excess sometime soon after the “ban”).

I grew up in an Italian kitchen… we ate pasta (or as my Mom would say, “macaroni”) three nights a week on average so needless to say, I’m a fan.  Cutting pasta out of my diet completely was not really an option for me BUT sitting down to super high calorie, low nutrient meal every time I made pasta for dinner also wasn’t an option (or at least not an option that aligned with my health and nutrition goals).

So what’s the deal?  Why is one bowl of pasta never enough even though it packs in plenty of calories?

My theory is two fold.

For starters, although a bowl of white pasta is energy dense it is also nutritionally void (more or less), it’s pretty much like drinking a beer.  It tastes good, but other than taste sensation it doesn’t have much to offer (and pasta doesn’t even give you a buzz!).  So although technically we have eaten plenty of food as far as volume goes, our bodies are still hungry for nutrients.

Translation: plenty of food + not enough nutrients = lack of satisfaction = we want to eat more regardless of caloric intake.

The second part of my theory has to do with blood sugar and the Glycemic Index.  I know I’ve touched on the Glycemic Index before so I’m not gonna get into the details BUT in a nutshell the GI is basically how quickly or slowly our blood sugar is raised after eating a specific type of carbohydrate. The more processed a food is before it enters our bodies (ie. white pastas and breads), the less work our bodies have to do to utilize the energy from this food and more extreme the effect on our blood sugar levels.  Spikes in blood sugar are not good for our bodies, so our job is to eat foods that keep our blood sugar levels even and balanced (ie. whole grain pastas and breads, veggies, etc…) without too many spikes and dips.

Now this doesn’t mean you have to ban all high GI foods forever because the good news is that paring high GI foods with low GI foods will create a moderate, balanced meal.

So when it comes to eating a pasta dish that won’t send your blood sugar on a roller coaster ride of a lifetime, these are my three general tips:

1.  Choose a whole wheat or whole grain pasta. Not only does this give you more fiber but it forces your body to do more work in order to access the energy from the pasta resulting in a slower release into your blood stream.

2.  Add some protein. It takes our bodies a lot longer to break down a protein than it does a carbohydrate so adding some protein to your pasta will automatically slow down the digestive process.

3.  Bulk it up with veggies! Not only do veggies add even more fiber but you can add a lot of volume to your meal without adding a lot of extra calories.  But most importantly, by adding veggies you add nutrients, so our bodies aren’t left looking for more.  They are nourished, happy and satisfied!

*(If you are using white pasta, this is even more of a reason to follow tips 2 & 3, remember… combining high GI and low GI foods = a d’lishes, moderate GI meal!).

If you have been reading for a while you may recognize this recipe/video.  This is one of the videos we lost so I decided to re-shoot it since so many people have been emailing me searching for this particular recipe.

Do you have any tips for bulking up your pasta dishes?  Any favorite recipes out there?!

Video: Whole Wheat Penne w/ Salmon and Greens

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Ingredients

1/2 lb of whole wheat penne
1/2 lb poached salmon, broken up in to bite size pieces
1bunches of dandelion greens, stemmed and chopped
1/3 cup of chopped dill
2-3 cloves of garlic chopped
2 leeks cut into half moons
½ pint of cherry tomatoes, halved
14 oz can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup of veggie or chicken broth
1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions

Cook the pasta according to the package directions being sure to reserve about a half cup of the pasta water.

Heat olive oil in a large non-stick sauté pan over medium heat.  Stir in leeks, and sauté for about three or four minutes before adding in stir in the garlic.  Continue to cook leeks and garlic until softened and smelling fantastic.

Add in dandelion greens and chicken broth along with some salt and pepper.  Stir everything together and then cover for about five minutes or until dandelion greens have wilted down.

Stir in dill and salmon and continue cook until the salmon has heated through.  Mix in your cooked penne and reserved pasta water.  Enjoy!

Serves 4.

Nutritional Analysis

Calories: 407; Total Fat: 8.9g; Saturated Fat: 1.4g; Cholesterol: 49mg; Sodium: 104mg; Carbohydrate: 62.5g; Dietary Fiber: 9.3; Sugars: 6.5g; Protein: 25.8g

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