Pasta bolognese

Hello hello!

My mission of getting fit is staring today! Yay! And because I have a cold, let's celebrate this with a big tasty portion of pasta bolognese.

Getting fit during the next 4 weeks will be a piece of cake. In other words, because I'm the worst cake maker in the world, for me it will be difficult. And with this cold even more so.

I make pasta bolognese a little differently than anybody else. My bolognese-version is healthy and it's not that dense in calories. Means if I don't eat the whole thing by myself tonight, I might not turn into a fat cow at midnight. At least Cinderella turned into a pumpkin - a healthy fruit-vegetable, not ground beef. Or maybe she didn't. John Grisham didn't report on that in The King of Torts. YET.

But enough about me and Cindy. Let's see what the pasta is doing.

Me: "Looking good pasta! Is your name Google?"

Pasta confused: "No, why?"

Me: "Because you have everything I've been searching for."

And then the pasta is mine. Best pick up line. Ever. I feel like fat Joey from Friends, when he said to some chicken or cheese nugget: "How you doin' "? I loooove it! And this video is such a great quality.

Anyway, I used whole-wheat penne for this recipe.

To anybody who's not exactly fond of whole-wheat products (like me) - I didn't notice any difference between this penne and regular penne. You cook it about 5 min longer, but that's it. Taste is pretty much the same. It doesn't contain less calories, but it has considerably more fiber and minerals. So do something good for yourself and start substituting regular pasta with the whole-wheat version.

INGREDIENTS

For the pesto (that's right I made a pesto for bolognese pasta):

1 cup basil leaves
1 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped spinach
1-2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 medium tomato - chopped
3 tbsp olive oil


....and the other ingredients are:

4 oz/ 200g whole-wheat penne
1/2 lb / 200g ground beef
3 medium tomatoes
1 carrot - chopped
some arugula to serve with
salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook pasta according to the label instructions. 

Meanwhile chop carrots, tomatoes, pesto ingredients, process just the additional 3 medium tomatoes to a tomato sauce in your food processor and then start preparing the the pesto. 

For the pesto: you simply put all the pesto ingredients in your food processor until you have a mixture that looks somewhat like this: 

This pesto is not just very healthy, but it's also alkaline, so it somewhat neutralizes the acid our bodies form while metabolizing the pasta and ground beef. You will not need all the pesto for this pasta, maybe half of it. You can keep the rest in your fridge for at least 5 days (that's the longest I haven't used it after preparation)and use it in other dishes - like pizza, pasta, bread and so on.

2. Once you're ready with the pesto start with the ground beef. In a large non-stick pan put first the ground beef and add some water (not more than 1/3 cup), cover with the lid and let it steam for a few minutes. Once the meat is not pink/red anymore remove the lid and let the meat cook, until there is no more water in the pan and the meat gets brown-ish.

3. Stir in the fresh tomato sauce and 1/3 cup water and cover the pan again. Cook for about 5 min at medium heat.

4. Add 3-4 tbsp of the freshly prepared pesto, stir in, salt to taste. The sauce should not be too fluid, but thick. Turn off the heat, but leave the pan on the cooking plate.

5. Add the cooked penne, chopped carrot and stir together until all the penne is covered with the bolognese sauce. Cover the pan and leave for a little (about 2 min).

When you're ready the carrot should still be crunchy. Not only do I like the taste better like this, but vitamin losses (B, C) are also reduced. And because you consume the carrot with some fat sources (olive oil, sunflower seeds, beef) you absorb more beta carotene than if you eat a carrot alone.

And serve with some arugula. I know I add arugula to almost everything, but it's pretty great, so sue me for having good taste.

Makes 4 servings: about 360 kcal per serving with a lot of vitamin A, B, C, iron, potassium, zinc, magnesium. But like Notorious B.I.G. said in his song - More portions, more calories. Be aware of that, while enjoying this deliciousness.