All I'd contest is that pasta was ever a 'formerly forbidden food'.  That was only in the days of the low-carb craze.

"A portion of pasta is 2 ounces or 56 grams dry weight at about 200 calories." 

How much does that eqal to in cooked weight?  Like, once the pasta is already finished, does that equal a half a cup or 1 cup or ?

One portion of pasta is one cup cooked.( most of the time)  Most pasta served at resturants is about 3 cups!

Here are the recipes featured in the Newsletter:

Spinach Pasta Shells

A low calorie count of 166 is achieved by making the proportion of pasta smaller... continue reading

Whole Wheat Turkey Spaghetti

Prepared just like regular spaghetti, but with ground turkey and added vegetables.  Choosing whole wheat pasta increases the nutritional value... continue reading

Fettuccine with Brussels Sprouts and Feta

An unusual and delicious combination.  The author has added variations to an old recipe... continue reading

I enjoy making my own pasta with whole white wheat that I grind.  This sounds more complex than it is, because using an electric grain mill and KitchenAid mixer with a pasta attachment make it quick and easy (and really, really, really yummy!) It is actually a bit richer than store bought pasta because it is made with whole eggs, but this makes it a bit higher in protein and small amounts are more filling.

Portion control is the trick for me on this one, I love pasta....

This is a link from About.com about how to make pasta....it is worth the extra effort!

http://italianfood.about.com/od/pastarecipesandsauces/a/blr0 001.htm

Thanks aliskey62389, that helps to know.

Another question: When analyzing recipes, is the amount of pasta entered dry or cooked?

On the Low Fat Alfredo Sauce recipe... the analysis says one of the bad points is high sugar content... where is the sugar coming from??

I do get frustrated when given correct portion size in the dry form of pasta!  How many people are going to cook just 2 ounces of pasta at a time?  A more helpful quantity would be the cooked weight.  Even when given the portion size 1/2 cup or cup form, it's a very inaccurate measurement.  A cupful of penne or rigatoni is not equal to a cup full of cappellini! 

its the sauce that is very bad for you so I've been told too many sugars or too high sodium  is that all true I've looked at labels and find it to be true in my favorite sauces

Original Post by: pudge49456

On the Low Fat Alfredo Sauce recipe... the analysis says one of the bad points is high sugar content... where is the sugar coming from??

Skim milk.  Once you take the fat out there is nothing left but lactose and water.    Skip the low fat and use cream.

Pasta is delicious and easy to cook, even in very small portions. In Italy it is sometimes just made with diced canned tomatoes and tuna. Not too many calories in that as a main dish in reasonable portions.

BTW, it's spelled orecchietti. One interesting dish they make orecchietti with is sausage and broccoli.

Enjoy!

I'm sure part of the reason countries like Italy are smaller than USA on a whole is because they do make meals a family, social event. Here we're lucky if we get one sit down meal a day. I try to make my family at least have dinner together but can you imagine if we had the option to have a homemade lunch instead of eating mcdonalds as your sitting in trafic on the way back to the office?

Pasta is a big part of our diets in my home. I make a pasta dish at least once a week, usually it's store bought whole weat kind, occasionally i'll make pasta from scratch (which is a billion times better than store bought.) but always I make a sauce with lots of veggies! There was a recipe from Rachel Ray that I really liked that had like eggplant and a bunch of other veggies in it. yummy!!

I'm sorry to say that i disaggree with the first paragraph of this article. Firstly I'm first generation Italian in the USA of my family lineage. Secondly Italians do not eat "a little" pasta ever. Everytime ive visited italy they serve LOTS of pasta and i mean lots a whole bowl full and when you're finished they ask you if you want more hence a lot of the pasta and sauce commercials would have comments like "Abondanza!!" (abundance) and the terms "Eat til you're full and then have a little bit more". A lot of their living is celebration of the poverty during the war where all they had was a little pasta and beans(fava beans) and after the war the recovery and celebration of the bounty of the land full of goodness and olive oil cookery! :)

Secondly younger italians are mainly slim because in italy(unless its recently changed) they get up early in the morning and report to work at 7am or earlier. They all stop work at about 12 noon and eat one huge meal and then take a nap for a few hours and work til 10pm by then theyre exhausted. At least thats what ive seen with most italians in sicily italy.

On the downfall most italian women over the age of 60 are overweight there and here in the usa that keep with the same eating habits. I dont stop hearing about most of my relatives both male and female over 60 dying of diabetes both here and in italy or heart attack or amputated limbs. So it really depends on what is going on in their lives and how they eat not what they eat. Most of my other family live and worked as fishermen south of sicily so they had to do a lot of physical work so the men were always working somehow doing physical duties which made them outlive most of their wives.

Here in the USA most of us didnt have to do all that physical labor from sunrise to sunset and retirement has made us all super lax.

My two cents.