Special to the Press-Citizen

I saw a recipe recently in The New York Times that used angel hair pasta, cherry tomatoes, basil, and parsley in a pasta dish. How convenient for me since my deck garden has produced a wealth of cherry tomatoes, basil, parsley, and chard along with beautiful flowers. The recipe was nearly vegan—it would be easy to swap out the butter for vegan butter —but the recipe called for so much oil and no protein aside from the pasta. I decided to “healthify” the original and make it more satisfying for hearty appetites.

First, I swapped the angel hair pasta for whole wheat spaghetti. Next, I created a basil/walnut/bean pesto instead of using oil and butter. I saved about 300 calories using healthy fat from the walnuts and adding additional protein and complex carbs

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