Pasta with Meat Sauce & Ricotta

I really enjoy making my own pasta sauce. It is great to control the ingredients and its seriously easy. Plus I like a really chunky sauce, and you just don't get that in a jar. This dinner is possibly the healthiest pasta with meat sauce ever - grass fed organic ground beef, whole wheat pasta, etc.

Meat Sauce

1 lb ground beef - the leanest you can find.

1 can diced tomatoes

Spices: oregano, basil, salt, pepper and red pepper flake

2 cups whole wheat pasta - I used penne

1/2 cup fat free ricotta cheese

While the water is boiling for the pasta, add the ground beef to a separate sauce pan. Cook and stir the meat so it cooks thoroughly and breaks apart into chunks. Once the meat is cooked, remove from pan and drain on paper towel. Add the whole wheat pasta to the boiling water and cook until done (8 minutes or so). With the pasta cooking, add the tomatoes to the sauce pan (after you wipe the pan with paper towel too), and add the drained meat too. Add all the spices to the sauce pan and just let it cook over medium low heat for about 15 minutes. Drain the pasta, top with sauce and a tablespoon full of ricotta cheese. Add some parmesan too if you'd like.

I served the pasta with a side of cooked baby carrots. You can't really ever get enough Vitamin A!

Calories in my portion: 330

Spicy Turkey Sauce over Medium Shells

This week at the grocery store, Hunt's canned diced tomatoes were on sale: 2/$1. Obviously I bought 2 cans. Red Bell Peppers were also on sale. And we had half a box of whole wheat pasta shells. Terrific start to a healthy italian meal.

1/2 lb of 93% Ground Turkey
1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped in 1/2 inch pieces
1 can Diced Tomatoes, drained
Basil, Oregano, Red Pepper Flake, Salt, and Ground Black Pepper
2 cups whole wheat pasta medium sized shells

While the water is boiling for the pasta, cook the ground turkey in a medium size pan. Once the turkey is cooked through, remove from pan and set on a paper plate lined with several paper towels. Smush so all the fat drains out. Wipe the pan with another paper towel. (Yes, I really do this paper towel smushing and wiping). Add the chopped pepper to the wiped pan and cook covered over medium heat until the pepper is really soft. Then add the tomatoes to the pan and a bunch of spices. At this point, the water should be boiling. Add the pasta to the pan and cook for 7-8 minutes or cooked to your preference. Let the tomatoes and pepper cook for another 2 minutes together and add in the drained turkey. Stir and let cook over medium-low heat until bubbly. Serve over pasta and top with some grated parmesan, fresh basil, etc.