Adding flavor, cutting calories

Y'all know I never jumped on the low carb band wagon. There is no way I could ever make it through my workouts if I gave up carbs. Unfortunately pasta, potatoes, and rice come with a healthy amount of calories. The way to combat those extra calories is to bulk up your dishes with vegetables but keep your serving sizes the same. I'll show you the calorie breakdown after I share this recipe.

Garden pasta

16 oz box garden rotini

2/3 cup fat free italian

chopped veggies 

fresh grated parmesan cheese (optional)

-Boil pasta until al dente and drain

-Mix in italian dressing

-Cool in refrigerator 2 hours

-Stir pasta and then mix in fresh chopped veggies

-Top with fresh grated parmesan cheese

You can use any veggies you want in this. I used tomatoes, black olives, and green peppers. I had a cucumber to use too but for some reason my refrigerator was turned up too high and it froze! I also think spinach leaves would be good in this recipe. 

Calorie breakdown:

1 cup of this pasta without the veggies would be about 250 calories. Now with the veggies added approximately 1/3 of that cup is going to be filled with the veggies taking away 83 calories. The veggies that were added and are taking the place of those extra pasta calories are under 5 calories. You just made a 

250 calorie meal 170 calories and made it taste better. Obviously the more veggies you add, the more calories you're cutting.