It’s time for another Recipe Redux challenge!  Check out this month’s theme:

7-Ingredient (Or Less) Recipes

It’s Income Tax Season, so our brains could use some easy arithmetic; as in seven-ingredient-or-less recipes. Show us the healthy, no-brainer dish you fix for breakfast, lunch or dinner. 

Creamy Gluten Free Pasta with Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage

A healthy whole grain pasta pairs with the sweet crunch of zucchini and the rich taste of sweet Italian chicken sausage for a quick and healthy meal!  (Gluten Free) 

This is a Mr. Hungry approved recipe, one hundred and ten percent.  See, the thing is I L-O-V-E, hands down LOVE Spaghetti Squash but Mr. Hungry is less than thrilled to dig in.  The other thing I love, HOT Italian chicken sausage, but again, Mr. Hungry would be less than thrilled.

So the week I made this, I decided I’d make Spaghetti Squash for me, and gluten free pasta for Mr. Hungry.  We both ate “kinds of pasta” for lunch all week.  (You can see it all prepped and ready to go in this post.)

Seeing as how I was prepping two full sets of meals for us to eat all week I wasn’t about to do anything fancy.  I was going to dump on a jar of marinara sauce and call it a day until I figured out we didn’t have any, DOH!

Then it came to me, Mr. Hungry loves to smear laughing cow on just about everything, so I’ll just use that as a creamy sauce.  It came out great, smooth texture, and much lighter than your regular creamy pasta.

I’m not usually a pasta person; I’d much rather dive face first into a bowl of rice than pasta, I just USUALLY don’t crave it. However, this pasta I could totally get on board with, sweet bites of flavorful meat, garlic cream, and sautéed zucchini, I think next time we will need a double batch!

BUT WAIT! ISN’T PASTA BAD FOR YOU?!?!

When I work with my Hungry Hobby RD clients one on one, my number one priority is to help them create balanced meals and get rid of the restrictive attitude.  In fact, it’s all about balance and upgrading, refined pasta with no protein, fiber, or veggies is unbalanced (and it sounds boring, but that’s just me).

The satiating (keeps you full) protein from the delicious melt in your mouth sweet Italian chicken sausage and the fiber from the veggies help to slow the absorption of sugar (from the pasta) into the blood creating more stable energy.

Brown rice pasta has only one ingredient:  brown rice.  Healthier carbohydrates (see this post—>what is healthy carbohydrate post) like whole grains, including brown rice, have higher fiber and protein contents again slowing down the blood sugar spike (see post my post on blood sugar importance).  With the addition of all that yummy protein and veggies, you’ll end up eating less pasta in one bowl without sacrificing any taste, again, creating a more balanced meal!

A few notes about the ingredients I used: 

• I like Trader Joe’s Brown Rice Pasta because:
  • it’s the only ingredient is brown rice (a very healthy carbohydrate)
  • it is  naturally gluten free which is better for Mr. Hungry (not a combination of a bunch obscure stuff)
  • it is affordable
  • it doesn’t taste grainy like many whole wheat versions I’ve tried, so I would buy it even if Mr. Hungry didn’t need gluten free pasta
• If you don’t have a gluten sensitivity, you could use any 100% whole grain pasta that you can recognize all the ingredients in (yep I’ve got a post on that too).
• For Vegetarians, you could sub edamame or pan fried tofu in for protein which would be lovely (but not beans, that’s a higher protein-carbohydrate source)

Creamy Gluten Free Pasta with Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage

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Gluten Free Creamy Pasta with Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage

A healthy whole grain pasta pairs with the sweet crunch of zucchini and the rich taste of sweet Italian chicken sausage for a quick and healthy meal!  (Gluten Free) 

Calories: 452kcal

Author: Kelli Shallal MPH RD

Ingredients

• 8 ounces brown rice pasta or other whole grain pasta
• 3-4 wedges garlic herb laughing cow wedges
• 1/4 cup pasta water reserved
• 1/4 red onion chopped
• 1 lb sweet Italian chicken sausage
• 2 T avocado or olive oil divided
• 2 medium zucchini chopped

Instructions

• Cook pasta according to package directions (reserve 1/4cup pasta water when draining) and add to a large bowl with laughing cow wedges.
• Meanwhile, add 1T oil to skillet and saute zucchini until just tender 5-7 minutes max. Remove from skillet and add to pasta.
• Add another tablespoon of oil and saute red onion for 2-3minutes. When onion is translucent and fragrant, add chicken sausage and saute on medium high until chicken is cooked all the way through (around 10 minutes), then add chicken sausage to bowl pasta bowl.
• Toss everything together!
• If pasta is too thick and not quite creamy enough, use the reserved pasta water adding 1T at a time to thin it out.
• Divide into four servings and enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 1/4 of recipe | Calories: 452kcal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 15g | Fiber: 3g

Tried this recipe?I'd love to see what you made! Tag me @hungryhobbyRD or tag #hungryhobby if you try this recipe!

Like pasta?  I thought so!  You might like this recipe —> Healthy Carbonara, which packs a secret ingredient in its creamy sauce to lighten this traditional pasta dish up quite a bit!

More of a spaghetti squash fan like me?  Try one of these recipes:

One Pan Pizza Spaghetti Squash

Shrimp Enchilada Spaghetti Squash

Don’t forget to check out more easy seven ingredients or less healthy recipes from my fellow Recipe Reduxers below:

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