Pasta Perfecto

As I promised, I would start to share some of the meals that I eat. Today I made this little pasta ditty for lunch. With a serving size of 1 cup it comes in at a slim 312 calories (estimated). The ingredients include, ground turkey, pasta (any will do), spaghetti sauce, and shredded cheese.

                  

First, I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Second, I boiled the pasta according to the instructions on the package. At the same time, I started browning the ground turkey.

After the ground turkey was browned, I drained it. Then, I added a jar of spaghetti sauce to the ground turkey and cooked until mixture was boiling. Once boiling, I turned off the burner.

By this time, the pasta was done. I drained the pasta and spooned it into a casserole dish. Doesn't it look beautiful!



Then I spooned the spaghetti mixture on top of the pasta. Lastly, I topped the mixture with shredded cheese. I baked the casserole for about 20 to 25 minutes (until warm all the way through and a little bubbly).

 

Ta da!

 

 

So how could this have been even healthier? This dish would have been healthier if I had whole wheat pasta. If you needed to bump up the calories you could add some broccoli or cauliflower to the casserole. Also, the shredded cheese should have been that of a lower fat (think 1% or skim milk when buying cheese). I must admit, I am not "cheese informed"! I imagine there was a very healthy substitute for the shredded cheese. Please let me know what you would recommend! Thank you and enjoy!