The Cardiologist's Wife
The Cardiologist's Wife is a blog dedicated to better health by sharing recipes, fitness tips and health information in an easy to understand format.
I keep trying to show that you can eat a mostly healthy diet but still have foods that taste good. You can tweak recipes to make them healthier or if you know something is pretty bad for you, just don’t eat it very often. I don’t think anyone would seriously claim that bacon is good for you with all it’s fat and salt content but I do love some good bacon. We do eat bacon once in awhile; maybe a couple of times a month. There is nothing better than to pair bacon with good, homegrown, heirloom tomatoes in a BLT. On Christmas morning, we have brown sugar bacon as a special treat. And those naughty folks at the Hoggin It All Barbecue stand at the ASU Farmer’s market certainly have me addicted to their bacon, egg and jalapeño jelly biscuits.
I am also a fan of quick to prepare foods as I realize most folks just aren’t going to take much time in the kitchen. I came up with a dish that uses bacon, adds some needed vegetables and cooks up in no time.
Quick – check
Easy – check
Good tasting – check
Healthy – reasonably but not totally
Three out of four requirements isn’t bad.
BLT Pasta
6 to 8 slices good bacon, look for Petit Jean and get some that is as lean as you can get it
12 oz. pasta, extra healthy points if you use whole wheat but also try Barilla’s white wheat for more fiber
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 bunch asparagus, snapped into pieces
olive oil
red pepper flakes
Heat oven to 425. Grease a cookie sheet and place tomatoes and asparagus on sheet.
Roast vegetables until starting to brown and shrivel a bit. While veggies roast, chop bacon into bite sized pieces and fry until nice and brown.
Drain on paper towels. Heat water in a large pot and cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and return pasta to pot. Add bacon and roasted vegetables. Drizzle with 2 to 3 Tbsp. of olive oil and add 1 tsp. red pepper flakes. Cut back on the red pepper if that is too hot for you. Toss gently and serve.
You could add some chopped fresh basil to this or experiment with other fresh vegetables like zucchini. I guess I should really call this BAT pasta since there is no lettuce in it but that doesn’t sound too appetizing. Whip this up soon and let me know if it didn’t hit the spot.
Upadated on July 30, 2013
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