Colorful Lemon Pepper Pasta – A Diet Food
October 13th, 2008 Madhuram Posted in Food Blog Events, Italian Cooking, Vegan Pasta Dishes | 
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Recently we had been to Olive Garden for the first time. I think they should rename it as “Salt Garden” instead. Right from the appetizer bread sticks to the main entree, every dish was very very salty. Even though I have to agree that we as a family have restricted our intake of salt and chillies/spicy stuff, the amount of salt used by the restaurant was way too high. The bread sticks, minestrone soup and the salad had the highest sodium content. When enquired the waitress about this, she told us that this is how it’s prepared everyday and it made us feel like we were from a strange planet. It really made us wonder if the average American is eating so much salt? But on the good side, the prices were definitely reasonable. With so much awareness about health in general and specific issues too, I cannot understand why they would use so much salt?
I don’t think that we will be going there again anytime soon for 2 reasons. a) it’s too far away from our place and b) we don’t want to consume so much salt. So in the meantime to satisfy my husband’s “pasta cravings”, I have to find pasta recipes which are easy to prepare, tasty and healthy as well. On the mission, I borrowed Betty Crocker’s Easy Everyday Vegetarian book from the library. This “Lemon Pepper Pasta” recipe caught my eye because it used very less ingredients and no cheese at all.
Since Divya’s Diet Foods event came to my mind, I decided to make it even more healthy by using whole wheat pasta instead of regular pasta and also reduced the amount of oil mentioned in the original recipe. Whole wheat pasta, asparagus and navy beans are rich in fiber, so we felt full very soon, ended up eating less. This dish is also protein rich, which again is key, when it comes to “diet food”. Whole wheat pasta does taste good, nothing like I dreaded and we also didn’t miss the cheese.
2. Meanwhile in a skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.
3. Add bell pepper, asparagus, lemon pepper, salt; cook, stirring occasionally until vegetables are crisp-tender.
4. Stir in lemon juice and beans. Cook until beans are hot.
5. Add pasta; toss with vegetable mixture.
2. Grated lemon zest was used in the original recipe. Since I had the lemon pepper seasoning, I used it instead. So you can simply use a combination of salt, pepper and lemon juice to suit your taste.
3. I would also suggest using any other hard beans instead of navy beans. Navy beans are very soft and it becomes mushy when you toss the pasta a couple of times. I think either Kidney beans or Chickpeas would be perfect.
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Tags: asparagus, bell pepper, lemon, navy beans, olive oil, pepper, salt, whole wheat penne
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:14 am
Lovely recipe, Madhu! I haven’t been here for a while either! Thanks for stopping by!
October 17th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Hey Madhu,
Tried this last night and it was hit in our house. It was tangy and yummy. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Riya
Thank you very much Riya for trying out the recipe. I’m glad that you liked it.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Looks good with pepper… and I agree with you, most of the dishes at olive garden are salty.
October 15th, 2008 at 8:50 am
I have never used Asparagus, this looks nice , will give it a try.
When steamed it tastes like beans. Recently I tried Asparagus paruppu usili from another blog and it was so good. Will blog about it shortly. You should try this too
http://www.egglesscooking.com/2008/06/09/asparagus-pepper-stromboli/
October 15th, 2008 at 2:07 am
Wow looks simple and gr8. Bookmarked. Will try soon.
October 14th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Looks so healthy and yummy…and I love the wheat color of the pasta…gonna try it soon…you rock !