Cooking Light

Bond and I rarely go out to eat during the week and only occasionally on weekends so most of our meals are home cooked.  Bond, for those of you who forgot is my wonderful husband.  He has a family history of heart disease.  This information motivated him to get healthy through diet and exercise.  So when we started dating I was educated to his healthy eating habits.  I do not want to mislead you, I have never been able to eat anything I wanted, but I usually only considered the calories, and often indulged on fatty and high sodium foods.  Now I try to cook low calorie, sodium, and fat. 

I admit calories are the easiest for me to keep track of, but keeping track of them leads to healthier choices in the other areas. I try to keep each meal at 500 calories or less per serving.  When I use the term “serving” I do not mean bite size, I mean a full plate of food, because I like to eat!  Another important thing to know is my recipes are pretty simple.  Not many ingredients, simple instructions, and quick to put together.

Last night I made a basic meal…Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

Ingredients:

20 oz. or 1.25 lbs ground extra lean ground turkey

13.25 oz or a box of Whole Wheat thin spaghetti

18 oz of Bertolli Tomato & Basil marinara sauce (about ¾ of a jar)

3 tbl chopped garlic

Optional: mushrooms sliced or parmesan cheese

I love this recipe especially because it’s so easy to put together.  Prepare the pasta as directed and set aside.  Brown the turkey meat.  Mix in the garlic and then add the sauce and heat through.  Top  the spaghetti with the saucs then add mushrooms and grated parmesan if desired.

This makes 5 servings @ 457 calories if you use approximately the following portions:

4 oz of turkey @ 120 cal

1 1/3 cup of spaghetti @ 252 cal

3.5 oz or ½ cup of spaghetti sauce @ 80 cal

Garlic @ 5 cal

Then factor in any toppings or make a great vegetable on the side, like green beans, asparagus, or broccoli.  On a busy night when I'm exhausted I like to grab a steam fresh bag of mixed vegetables and the store bought jar of minced garlic.  

I did not make additional vegetables last night, just mushrooms for Bond.  Usually I will make a side of green beans or asparagus.  What do you like to serve with or add to your spaghetti recipe?