Mediterranean Style Pasta

When starting a diet, typically one of the first things that everyone freaks out about giving up is pasta. I seriously haven’t found anyone that doesn’t like pasta (myself included in that everyone). I’m assuming they exist but hey so do unicorns and leprechauns, right? 😉 Sorry to tell you, but you don’t have to stop eating pasta.

A trick that I learned as I became a Master Macro Morpher is to get creative with pasta. I managed to do a lightened up lasagna, linguine alfredo, and even pasta alla vodka. I also figured out that you can sneak in zucchini in a pinch and still have pasta with its pasta-y good taste but quite a bit fewer calories. You also get the bonus of added veggies.

Instead of just chopping up zucchini, I have a handy dandy spiral vegetable slicer that I got and use all the time now. If you look at the picture at the link, I used the ribbon blade on the right side for this recipe. I use the smaller blade on the left side to make my zeggs and zoats. You can also use it for more than just zucchini. I’ve used it with sweet potatoes and yellow squash. I need to get more daring though and expand my spiraling skills.

This recipe was fast and easy. It only took the amount of time to boil the pasta. It was also perfect for the hot Summer weather that hit this past weekend. I ate the leftovers cold like a pasta salad.

Mediterranean Style Pasta 

• 2 2/3 cup (224g) uncooked penne pasta
• 12 oz grilled chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 cups (200 g) uncooked zucchini, sliced into ribbons
• 20 grape tomatoes, halved
• 12 green olives, halved
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1 fresh lemon
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Cut your chicken breasts into bite sized pieces, and cut your tomatoes and olives into halves. You can also leave them whole or slice into quarters. Whatever your heart desires.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain well. Toss the pasta, zucchini, tomatoes, olives and basil in a large bowl. Slice the lemon in half and squeeze over top. Salt and pepper, to taste. Makes 4 servings at approximately 331 calories each – 26g protein, 44g carbs, and 4g fat.

You can get creative with this one and use different olives, different spices, different shaped pasta. If you want to add fat, toss in a little olive oil or butter. You can add in parmesan, feta or mozzarella if you want a cheesy version. It’s seriously easy and there are thousands of ways to spin this. Get it, spin… with your spiralizer. OK, maybe not. ROFL.