No More Pasta!

Somebody says that Pasta is good for you, somebody says that Pasta makes you fat, somebody even says that all kinds of wheat is bad for you. We believe that no food is 100% good for you. We believe that you need to eat both small portions and a larger variety of food. Therefore we believe that you can have also some Pasta with moderation in your diet. 

When I was a kid growing up in Italy, we rarely didn't have a plate of Pasta every single day of the week. There was a kind of Pasta for every day. For example, usually on Mondays we had left over Pasta from Sundays, on Tuesdays Pasta with legumes, on Wednesdays Pasta with vegetables, on Thursdays we had Pasta with red sauce, on Fridays Pasta with fish, on Saturdays we used to have Pasta in vegetable or meat broth, on Sundays big Pasta with ragu` sauce that cooked for hours. The funny thing is that every shape of pasta is meant for a particular kind of sauce.

As you can imagine Pasta is not a nutritionally complete dish, mainly carbohydrates. Therefore Pasta needs to be accompanied with a second dish such as legumes, meat, vegetables and fish. To avoid making several dishes, you can put the second dish together with Pasta, making all in one nutritionally balanced dish.

Buon appetito!

Peppe's red sauce

Tonight we are having my favorite sauce...the typical italian red sauce that I have named "Peppe's red sauce" although I believe it has an Italian name already dedicated to it.  Here are the ingredients:

1/2 red onion

1/2 carrot

1 can organic tomato sauce

1/2 pound ground beef

a pinch of salt and pepper

2 small hot red peppers

1/4 cup olive oil

First heat the olive oil and add the chopped onions and carrots.  Be sure they are chopped small enough for them to cook quickly.  Let simmer for approximately 5 minutes or until the onions become translucent.  Add the ground 

beef and let brown.  Drain any excess oil.  Add the tomato sauce, salt, pepper and red peppers and let cook for at least a half hour on medium to low heat.  Remember, the longer it cooks the better it tastes.  Add this to your favorite pasta and buon appetite!