TASTY TUESDAY - PASTA WITH CHICKEN & MUSHROOMS

Hubby loves pasta and the reality is that with the obligatory bread that usually accompanies the pasta reaching 1,000 calories is very easy.  Because of this I set out to make a tasty pasta that would be full of protein and have less fat and calories but still be satisfying.  The night I made this I received two thumbs up from hubby. 


This is a little more complicated than I had planned for the tasty, less calories and fat recipes but this is worth the extra work.

 

The first thing I did was to take 8 oz of shiitake mushrooms, place them on a Silpat lined cookie sheet and salt and pepper them, then add 1T of the Costco bacon crumbles (you can find other brands but do not use the fake bacon ones) then drizzle 1/2 t olive oil over the bacon, mushroom mixture and toss them around on the cookie sheet.  Bake them in 375° oven for about 30 minutes, turning them every ten minutes or so.  Do not let them burn.

Mushroom topping:
8oz Shiitake Mushrooms
1T Bacon Crumbles
1/2t Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

I apologize for the poor quality of this photo - did not notice at the time it was so blurry. I keep chicken tenders in the freezer and like them because they thaw very fast and when they have cooked it is easy to cut them into pieces or shred them, etc. I just put them on foil, salt and pepper them, seal securely, and put into a 350° oven until they are done - I put them in the oven frozen so will check them in about 40 minutes, leave them in longer if not done.  On this day I put extra in the foil because I needed chicken for some white chili I was making for another day.  After they have cooled a little you can cut them into chunks for the pasta.

For two servings you will need 8oz of chicken

For the pasta:

1 small onion, diced
1 large clove of garlic
1T olive oil
1/2 tsp Smokehouse Maple seasoning

Dice the onion and cook in a pan with the olive oil, cooking slowly as to not burn, when the onion is done and starting to caramelize grate the garlic into the mixture, turn down the heat and cook until the garlic is cooked. Add the 1/2 tsp Smokehouse Maple seasoning and cook for just a bit, do not burn.  Set aside.

Cook 4oz of spaghetti in a big pot.

When the spaghetti has finished cooking, drain and put back into the pot.

Sauce:
 6 oz soft (called silken) tofu
1/4 cup water
1 T lemon fresh lemon juice
salt
Pepper    

Whisk all of these ingredients until smooth - the only way to get the ingredients really smooth is to put them in a blender - the tofu is resistant to becoming smooth any other way. I did not use the blender.

Place some of the mushrooms (be sure and save enough for topping two portions) the onion garlic mixture and the sauce in with the pasta and gently toss to ensure that all of the spaghetti gets some sauce.  Cover the pan and let it sit for a few moments for the noodles to absorb the flavors of the sauce.  When I tasted just before serving I found it to be bland and added more salt, pepper, some more of the Smokehouse Maple seasoning and a few red pepper flakes.
 

Top with 2 t of grated Parmesan just before serving. A portion of this pasta makes a nice large serving.  I served it with some fresh broccoli and a green salad. No bread.

Nutritional Information:

Entire Dish:

Calories: 752
Fat: 28
Protein: 66

Per serving:
Calories: 376
Fat: 14
Protein: 33 


So.....half of this recipe contains half of your daily requirement of protein - for me about 1/3 of this is enough but hubby ate half and as I mentioned with a salad and broccoli.  I reheated the dish two days later and he said it was just as good re-heated and that this is a dish he would be happy to eat often.  I call this success and worth the little bit of trouble.  I think after I make this a time or two it will seem much less complicated and easy to make.

Thank you for stopping by.