Does anyone have an alternative to olive oil?

I really like pasta. I used to eat it like five times a week. The way I like my pasta is with olive oil and parmesan cheese.

The cals really add up, so I would like an alternative that I can put on pasta, the rare times I have it.

saute a chopped onion in a tiny bit of olive oil, add in a tin of chopped tomatoes, add in some basil and oregano, add in a tin of water and let it boil down for 30min- 1hour. Until it's the kind of consistency you like it. If you don't add the water it'll be quicker, but less tasty. You can freeze any leftover sauce so that you just have to microwave it next time.

I use a little chicken or vegetable broth along with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, or less.  I like the flavor of the olive oil, but that tiny bit isn't enough to moisten the pasta, so I pour in some hot broth and stir.  Not too much.

It's pretty easy to make a fast pan sauce - saute garlic in the small amount of olive oil, pour in a half a cup of chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Add a half cup of pasta cooking water and the pasta.  Stir and heat over medium heat until some of the liquid is evaporated and absorbed.  Then add the cheese.

2 ideas:

If it's the "olive flavor" you like in the olive oil, you could try switching to a less refined oil with a stronger flavor, and then mixing in some broth as clairelaine suggests.

 Or, if you're just looking for something to just keep the pasta from sticking, you could try a couple of quick squirts of olive oil pam. You'll get better and lighter distribution with the spray, so you'll need less oil. You just need to be careful not to put on too much, but I think it would be hard to spray a full tablespoon on accidentally :)

Scale the whole thing down perhaps.  Oil, pasta and cheese is a very calorific combination in large quantities.  So use less oil and cheese and serve the pasta in smaller amounts.  Bulk up the meal with salad or vegetables instead.

No Oil Clam Sauce for Linguine:

2 cans Chopped Clams and juice

2 green onions, sliced

1/3 cup chopped parsley

8 ounces sliced fresh button mushrooms

3 cloves garlic

1/2 can or more chicken broth

1/3 cup white wine

Bring all to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes on low.  Serve over pasta with parmesan cheese topper.

Try Grape Seed Oil...

It's a wonderfully Light oil...  great for quick / fast saute, lovely on pasta, without making a "heavy" coat on it.

 

I'll pull up some recipes and put them in my journal....

 

Original Post by gibsonartist:

Try Grape Seed Oil...

It's a wonderfully Light oil...  great for quick / fast saute, lovely on pasta, without making a "heavy" coat on it.

 

I'll pull up some recipes and put them in my journal....

 

Light in what way?  Nothing against grapeseed oil, I know it has some health benefits and tastes nice, but it still has the same 120 cal per tablespoon as other oils.