Multigrain Pasta - Don't be Afraid!

Since I’m now in South Beach Diet Phase Two, I’m allowed SOME carbs. I went and spent a fortune at Whole Foods even though I really only went there for a loaf of tasty multigrain bread and some interesting low fat cheese. I’m tired of processed low fat rubbery cheddar, etc. I bought some Cantenaar (17%MF) and some Maigre du Nord (15%MF) from Belgium – delicious goat cheese that cost $5 for the skinniest sliver (.07g/.002 oz) , In fact I left with four regular sized shopping bags (paper of course), so not so much food, but I still managed to spend $200 – YIKES!!

One of my purchases was multigrain rotini pasta by Italpasta. It’s their new line (at least new to me) of high fibre (9g/3 oz per serving) pasta. I was so excited when I found it that I called my aunt to tell my cousin about it. Unfortunately, she’s really on the Atkins diet and needs low carb and doesn’t care about the fibre content – so 61g/2.15 oz is too high for her – oh well. It really is hard to keep track of who eats what these days. But, as is my way, I digress…

Back to the pasta. When I did my annual brown rice detox diet (really a 2 week cleanse and not really a diet - you can read about it here) after the first week you can eat brown rice pasta. Well I tried that once – ONCE, because I hated it – texture, taste, the works! So it was with trepidation that I tried this multigrain pasta. When I'm afraid, I go back to my very favorite ingredients - shrimps, mushrooms, wine, garlic, basil....actually I have lots of favorite ingredients, but these were the ones that came to mind as I held the bag of noodles in my hand. In fact, I made double the shrimp portion in case we had to by-pass the noodles. Not necessary! Because they were very tasty and really al dente after the 9 minutes the package said, although I will say that a tomato based sauce would go better as the pasta does have a distinctive, robust flavor on its own. I think the shrimp and asparagus would probably work better with couscous which is much milder in flavor.

Anyway, for you South Beachers, check it out. For you non South Beachers, the sauce is great whatever you decide to put it on. And it's a great basil addition for Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging Event - one of my favorite things to do on the weekend!

Recipes

Shrimp, Asparagus & Mushrooms over Multigrain Pasta

Related links: Food and Drink recipes South Beach Diet Low Carb Diet