Fall Harvest Pasta Recipe For World Pasta Day

Hey Friends

There is indeed a day for everything and today is apparently WORLD PASTA DAY!

Little Stacy fun fact. I ate pasta pretty much every day of my life from childhood through early adulthood. I'm not kidding. I really only liked angel hair with tomato sauce!! I was a picky eater as a kid and that is what I wanted ... ALL.THE.TIME. In college I lived at the "pasta station" at the cafeteria and as a young adult I did the semi-vegetarian thing for a while and was clueless how to do it in a healthy way .. so pasta was pretty much my dinner every single night, lol. I can't even imagine what my carb intake was back then and how low my protein probably was!! Oh how I wish I had known then what I know now!

These days .my carb intake is pretty stinking high .. so I've been incorporating REAL DEAL pasta into rotation!

Of course I have to eat Gluten Free pasta because of having Celiac. There are SO MANY out there that honestly taste just the same as wheat filled pasta (from what I can remember.) I don't have a favorite brand. This go round I got Barilla and it was REALLY good!

For my LOW CARB PEEPS .. or if you just don't want to waste carb macros on a little pasta .. or if you want to add a little something TO the real pasta to make it MORE VOLUME for essentially ZERO carbs .. keep reading! I've got a pasta hack below the recipe!

The biggest thing about pasta is coming up with a sauce that isn't crazy in calories/carbs. Most people don't want that since you are already getting a TON from the pasta.

FALL is in the air and pumpkin everything is in full supply so I wondered what the yummy FALL HARVEST SALSA at Trader Joe's would taste like on PASTA?! I mean .. pasta sauces are often TOMATO based .. so is salsa. So why not give it a try! The macros for this salsa are great (3c per serving) and it really dosen't take much at all! So I added a few things to it and BOOM!! I'm happy to report that it was DELISH! It really did make the perfect pasta sauce!

MACROS: They will vary based on brand of pasta, amounts, type of protein you use, etc.
The macros for the Fall Harvest Pasta Sauce ONLY (using the amounts listed and NO add-ins) are:
Calories: 55
Fat: 0
Carbs:14
Fiber: 2
Protein: 0

FALL HARVEST PASTA

INGREDIENTS:

2oz (or amount you choose) of Pasta
3 servings (90g) of Trader Joe's Fall Harvest Salsa
1/4+ serving of Pumpkin (I also use Trader Joe's or Libby's)
Protein of choice - I used my already meal prepped crock pot ckn.

OPTIONAL ADD INS:
** I like a "kick" so I added in some red pepper flakes
** You may need a tiny bit of unsweetened almond or cashew milk if it's dry! I used like 1-2 tbs.
** Parm cheese (I did 5g .. one serving)
** Little bit of (any) cream cheese. Oooh .. maybe even TJ's pumpkin cream cheese! This will make it more of a creamy pasta sauce! I didn't try it with THIS recipe but have with marinara sauce or tomato sauce and it is so YUMMY!

WHAT TO DO:
Just make the pasta as directed.
Drain
Put pasta back in pot and stir in the salsa, pumpkin, cooked meat and any other add-ins you want (the red pepper, seasonings, milk, cream cheese, etc.)
Put on low heat until the "sauce" is heated with the pasta
Serve and sprinkle on cheese if you wish!

** PASTA HACK **
Want to eat your pasta and SAVE your carbs?!? I often incorporate THESE noodles into my meals .. especially when carbs are lower.

They stink when you open them but once you rinse and blanch they no longer stink and they pretty much just take on the taste of however you season them! So don't let the smell scare ya away! They are a GREAT pasta substitute for those on low carb or just those that want more VOLUME foods!

For example .. one of the days I had this I was HUNGRY. So I mixed in ONE ounce of these noodles in with my 2oz of regular pasta and had MUCH more volume. Or you could JUST use these noodles and have an entire bowl for literally like a few carbs! I purchase mine HERE online because it is cheaper to buy them by the box. You can also find them at SOME wal-mart stores, vitacost, etc. I need to do a full review on some of their other products because so many of their "Ready To Eat" items (like Pho, Curry, Pad Thai, etc) are SO FREAKING GOOD! I've NOT seen those in stores but they have "variety" packs on the webpage! Sometimes they give me a coupon. Please EMAIL ME if you want before you order and I'll see if I have one!

You can also spiral up some zucchini or sweet potato and saute it in a pan  Both are really yummy "pasta" subs or add-ins.  Of course the sweet potato will have more carbs .. but still less than the pasta!

Happy Pasta Day!
Stacy