I love trying new things, especially taking a recipe that might be a little on the decadent side or that would send you into carb overload and making it healthier..
One of the things I love and almost rarely ever ate over the past several years was pasta..
Getting older isn't easy, and needing to change up your eating habits can be difficult but luckily for a lot of us there are a few companies who have heard our cry for a healthy pasta alternative that doesn't involve zucchini..
This particular brand is "GK Skinny Pasta"
Gabriella's Kitchen has been making pasta alternatives, gluten free and teff pastas for a while now, but my favorites by far are the high protein low carb pastas they've created..
An that's where this comes in..
This recipe was one I made years ago but it's so filling, and so carb and fat heavy, that I just couldn't bring myself to make it again..
Now taking my new discovery of skinny pasta, and a pie crust I've been experimenting with, I went about making a healthy version of an incredibly scrumptious dinner dish..
Using part skim, low fat, low carb ingredients with a minimum of oil and turkey sausage—I've gone about creating a meal that is anything but bad for you no matter how gluttonous you might feel enjoying it..
Full of tons of protein, vegetables and fiber—you'll definitely feel satiated after a piece of this..
So give it a try yourself, and give "GK Skinny Pasta" a try to—I know that you'll find them both "Definitely Delish"
"Baked Spaghetti Pie" with GK SkinnyPasta and "Coconut Flour Crust"
Ingredients:
1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 zucchini, large dice
1 yellow Squash, large dice
Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 pound mild Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
1/4 cup red wine
3 cups tomato sauce (plus 2 more cups for serving on the side)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2/3 pound GK SkinnyPasta, Spaghetti
1 pound part skim mozzarella, diced
1/2 to 2/3 cup Parmesan, Asiago & Romano cheese, shredded
1/2 cup or more part skim ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon Fresh chopped parsley
Coconut Flour Pie Crust (see recipe below)
Directions:
1. Heat 2 tablespoons cup of olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the vegetables and toss to coat in the oil..
2. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Saute the veggies until it is lightly golden and tender, about 10 minutes. Decrease the heat to medium. Add the garlic and saute until it is tender, about 2 minutes longer..
3. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetable mixture to a large bowl..
4. Add the sausage and wine to the same frying pan. Cook over medium-high heat until the wine evaporates and the sausage is brown, breaking the sausage into smaller pieces, about 8 minutes..
5. Add the sausage, parsley, tomato sauce, and crushed red pepper to the veggie mixture, and toss to combine..
6. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the GK Skinny Pasta and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly..
Drain. Toss the spaghetti with the mixture. Cool completely. Add the mozzarella and shredded cheeses and toss to combine..
7. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Follow the "Coconut Flour Pie Crust" directions and transfer to a 9 or 10 inch spring-form pan (I used a double recipe and 10 inch spring-form)
8. Spoon the mixture into the prepared bottom crust till full adding spoonfuls of part skim ricotta cheese here and there (more or less to preference)
9. Roll out a 10 inch circle of coconut flour pie crust on parchment paper, brush the exposed edges of the pie crust in the spring-form pan with egg wash and transfer the circle of dough on top sealing it by pressing the edges..
10. Lightly brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle a pinch or two of coarse salt on top—then cut small slots for the inside to vent..
11. Place in middle rack of the oven. Bake until the pastry is golden brown on top, about 30 minutes..
12. Use foil around the edges if they begin to darken to quickly..
13. When done let stand for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the pan sides and serve with some reserved tomato sauce on the side..
Notes:
1. You can pre-bake the bottom shell of pie crust till just beginning to lightly golden, to avoid the chance of it remaining to soggy, before filling. Just be careful not to overcook..
2. You can also switch up the vegetables if you wish, I added a small amount of eggplant to mine. You can use all yellow or all green squash, all eggplant-it's personal preference really..
"Low Carb High Protein Coconut Flour Pie Crust"
Ingredients:
2 eggs plus 2 egg whites
2-3 teaspoons peanut or canola oil
1 teaspoon butter extract
1/4 tsp fine Himalayan pink salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup coconut flour (Bob's Red Mill or preferred brand)
1/4 cup Vital Wheat Gluten (24g protein per serving)
1/2 cup light butter, softened & added in spoonfuls (or cubes)
Options:
1 tsp vanilla extract (only for dessert pies)
3 teaspoons Truvia (for dessert pies)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Whisk the eggs, oil & butter (vanilla extract & Truvia added here for a dessert pie recipe) into a stand mixer..
3. In another bowl whisk the remaining ingredients together until combined..
4. Pour the dry and wet mixture into a mixer and combine on low speed..
5. Add the cubed light butter. Process until it looks like crumbles..
6. Squeeze the crumbles together with your hands until you form a ball of dough..
7. Roll out the needed dough between two pieces of parchment paper and flip over into pie plate or spring-form pan (will want to break, just use your hands to fill and form the dough inside)
8. Using a fork randomly make holes into the bottom of the crust using the tines..
9. Loosely ring the top edges of your dough with aluminum foil if you're going to do additional baking after filling..
10. Pre-Bake the crust 7 to 10 minutes or until lightly golden..
11. Once cooled out of the oven, add your filling. Or if you're doing additional baking, fill and add your additional layer of pie crust on top before baking again..
Notes:
1. For Gluten Free version you can try switching out the Vital Wheat gluten for unflavored brown rice protein..
2. You can also increase the sweetness of the crust by adding additional Truvia (or your preferred sugar substitute), Vanilla extract or other flavors depending on what you plan to fill the crust with. (Sweet or Savory works great with this crust)
