My best advice would be to add more vegetables, and less pasta, or compliment your pasta with vegetables. If you like mushrooms, add more mushrooms, or if you like peppers, add more peppers to the pasta. Vegetables with pasta make a great meal and it will make you feel like you ate more pasta than you actually ate. With less pasta, it's simply lower calorie. Here is a great recipe for low calorie pasta:

Low Calorie Pasta Recipe:

It's about 200 calories for every 3/4 cup of cooked pasta.

- 1 cup of the following sliced vegetables that have been sauteed in cooking spray: mushrooms, onions, garlic, green bell pepper.

Add cooked pasta to the pan until warm and coated with the vegetable drippings. Salt and pepper as desired; top with a slice of Mozzarella cheese, skim variety for an additional 60 calories if desired.

Recipe serves one for less than 300 calories with the cheese calories included.

Low Calorie Pasta Recipe #2

Using all the above ingredients EXCEPT the cheese, prepare as directed then add pasta and vegetables to 1 cup of tomato or vegetable soup.
Source(s):
http://www.dietbites.com/Low-Calorie/low-calorie-pasta-recipe.html

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Visit Cooks.com, it is a good website for recipes.
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Source(s):
www.cooks.com

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Well, I did the low-cal pasta thing for years, and gained weight while exercising and eating low-cal/low-fat. But if that's the route for you, then here are a couple of suggestions:

Pasta is actually already one of the lowest-calorie things there is. It's what you put on it that adds the calories. So choose ingredients that have a high fiber content, like celery, chopped herbs and lettuces (for a cold salad), peppers, and onions. Other vegetables have more calories but use them if you must. Cheese has got loads of calories so you'll want to eliminate it, or go very light with it. Ingredients like capers and anchovies pack a lot of flavor with very little calories to go with it.

Switch to whole wheat pasta. It has more fiber, and therefore fewer calories.

Cut your portion sizes.

Up your spicing and cut out fat entirely. Read labels and make sure that what you're putting on the pasta has no fat at all. That will take out a lot of the flavor, so you'll have to up the spices to try to make up for it.

Track what you're eating on Fitday.com or thedailyplate.com to make sure that all the cutting of flavor-adding fats isn't being short-circuited by eating too much to make up for it.
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Lowfat Rigatoni with Zucchini & Eggplant
Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:20
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 medium zucchini -- sliced in 1/4" half moons
1/2 medium eggplant -- cubed
1 large onion -- chopped
1 bell pepper -- seeded & chopped
2 cloves garlic -- minced
3 tablespoons water -- (more as needed)
8 ounces tofu -- (lowfat) mashed
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes -- (optional)
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt -- (optional)
8 ounces pasta -- rigatoni or other small tubular pasta, cooked
4 cups fat-free spaghetti sauce
Preheat the oven to 350°.Sauté the eggplant, zucchini, onions, bell pepper and garlic in the water in a nonstick pan over medium heat until tender, adding more water if needed to prevent sticking.Combine the mashed tofu, parsley, basil, oregano, nutritional yeast, salt, and red pepper flakes. Stir the cooked rigatoni into the tofu.
Lightly coat a 3-quart casserole with vegetable oil spray. Spread a thin layer of marinara sauce over the bottom. Layer half the pasta mixture, half the sauteed vegetables, and half the remaining remaining sauce. Repeat layers.
Cover the casserole and bake it for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake another 10 minutes
Source(s):
http://www.soyfoods.com/SimplySoy

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Do you like whole wheat pasta? It's comparable in calories to regular pasta, but it actually makes you eat less because of its hardiness. What it basically does is keep you full for longer, making you be able to wait longer for your next meal. I definitely recommend switching to whole wheat pasta if your concern is calories.

Also, cooking up some raw zuchini or squash, some raw broccoli, your favorite veggies (like onions), some crushed red peppers, and a pinch of salt in a few spoonfuls of water (in place of olive oil, if you choose) on high fire for a couple of minutes covered will add a great deal of flavor to your meal.

You'd be surprised how good some veggies you might consider bland actually taste when there are no other flavors around. Try it out! I hope this helps.

I found this link for some recipes for pastas with veggies, including a no cheese lasagna:
Source(s):
http://veg.ca/content/view/162/112/

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I will start by saying that the best diets are balanced diets, not low carb, not low fat, but something that has some of everything you need.

A problem with pasta is that it is simply not low calorie. A plate of pasta that would usually be considered a meal will tend to have 800-1100 calories or so before anything is added to it.

The solution is to reduce the amount of pasta, and increase the amount of other stuff in the dish.

Typically, a measured 2oz (dry weight) serving of pasta will have 160-200 calories. The problem is that 2oz of pasta is not a lot of food at all.

Thus, I would include no more than 3-4oz of pasta in a dinner where the pasta is the main part of the meal. 4oz of pasta will normally be 350-400 calories. If your meal target is ~700 calories or so, then you still have some room to work with.

Saute up a bunch of your favorite veggies. Squash, onions, peppers, carrots, broccoli cherry tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, spinach, or anything else you like. You can probably use 6-8oz of vegetables per serving if you're aiming for 700-800 calories in a meal - the veggies will be more weight than the pasta, and take up a LOT of the bulk. I love red bell peppers, sundried tomatoes, and onions. If you add onions, make sure to cook them until they're caramelized (turn brown) - don't be afraid to cook them in a bit of butter or olive oil, just remember that you're not deep frying them.

Next up is some more protein. A couple small meatballs might be reasonable, but chicken is decidedly better. Add in 1-2oz per serving of boneless skinless chicken chunks. I'd just saute the chicken in a bit of oil, some garlic, and a bit of seasoning.

I'd strongly recommend whole wheat pasta as it has a few less calories and a lot more fiber.

Some tomato sauce is OK, but measure how much you're putting in - it tends to have a significant number of calories. There's a really light, tasty option that's a lot better than typical pasta sauce, though. Diced "itallian style" tomatoes, like these:
http://www.muirglen.com/images/products/28381.jpg

I've never had this brand before, it's just what I pulled off of google. Whatever is at your supermarket will be fine. 1 small can will be plenty of diced tomatoes for 2 people. If you want it more saucy, just strain some of the water out of it, and blend it up. It won't be as thick as typical pasta sauce, but it will be tasty!


Dishes like this are really a mix and match, but the most important thing I've got here is portion control! As pasta is so calorie dense, it is *imperative* that you watch how much you're eating, and replace as much of the pasta as possible with veggies, which have very few calories, and a bit of meat to get the protein and fat you need.

Don't be afraid to top it with some cheese, just measure what you use, and don't go overboard. A lot of people on low fat diets eat far too many carbs, and a lot of people on high protein diets don't get enough. With pasta in the dish, you'll always have more than enough carbs, but some careful consideration regarding quantity can give you a well balanced, reasonably healthy, and absolutely delicious meal.

Keeping fat intake around 20-35% is recommended in the link below. Saute the veggies and chicken in the olive oil! Monounsaturated fat is good for you! I'd posit a guess that closer to 20-25% is easier - it's about what I try to eat, personally. I'm not dieting, but I am constantly watching what I eat (I'm a fine weight, current BMI is 24ish and I am usually closer to 22-23 during the summer and I am more active) - I will note that I watch what I eat because it affects me - I can both gain and lose weight pretty easily, it just takes me some willpower or a lack of it.
Source(s):
General info on a balanced diet:
http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_eating_diet.htm

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I like carbonara as a simple and light pasta dish.

1 egg
1 t. hard cheese like parmesan
1 1 t. chopped prosciutto or bacon
2 T green onion
2 C long pasta such as spaghetti

This makes two servings.

Start boiling the pasta while you mix the other ingredients together. When the pasta is cooked, drain quickly and immediately add to the other ingredients, and toss repeatedly until everything is evenly coated. The residual heat and water from the pasta will cause the egg to create a light sauce with no additional butter or oil required.

Add about 12 ounces of grilled chicken or shrimp for two people.

The reason this recipe is great because it has eggs and bacon and cheese but remains light because you're not using any oil for cooking or in the sauce. Using a good hard cheese and a flavorful ham like prosciutto allows you to use less. The best thing about this is that it can be made in 15 minutes yet nothing comes out of a can.
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Though it may take some getting used to, Shirataki noodles are a low-carb, Asian substitute for regular pasta noodles. They are made from tofu or Konjac flour, a yam-like plant, and are very high in fiber and very low in carbohydrates. They have virtually no taste and are somewhat rubbery, but we have used them mixed with regular spaghetti noodles to reduce the pasta content by half -- using any traditional pasta sauce you like. I have also eaten them on their own and once you get used to the texture, it really is a fair substitute for calorie and carb-laden pasta noodles. They can now be found in most major grocery stores, in the refrigerated section with other fresh asian noodles and tofu products. NOTE: the tofu version is far more palatable with a less rubbery texture.
Source(s):
I have prepared and eaten these noodles for the past 2 years.
http://www.shiratakinoodles.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirataki_noodles

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Pasta is my absolute favorite food.

For one thing, only serve yourself one cup of pasta. Top it with 1/2-3/4 cup of a basic marinara. This recipe is quite similar to one that I have made for years:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/raos-marinara-sauce

I actually use more basil than this recipe calls for. You may have seen Rao's marinara in jars in your local grocery store. Don't buy it. It is incredibly expensive and this recipe is so simple.

Parmesan cheese, as a hard cheese, is relatively low in fat. You can use two tablespoons on your pasta with marinara and not feel guilty.
Source(s):
Years of making the marinara from the Rao's Cookbook.

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