Pasta Vegetable Casserole

Eating fats don't make you fat, but the wrong fats will make you sick. It's not how much fat you eat but the type of fat that counts. Fats are calorie dense, and although you can't indulge in a high fat diet if you want to lose weight, a moderate amount of healthy fats are essential for your health. The Good Fats: Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are the fats you should be eating, and you get these kinds of fats from nuts, seeds, fish and vegetables. Polyunsaturated fats contain essential fats that are hugely important to your health, but your body can't make these fats. Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are only found in foods. These essential fats improve your cholesterol profile, lower triglycerides and reduce the risk of stroke and heart disease. For cooking olive oil and canola oil are healthy fats that work well. I like to use Smart Balance Buttery Spread for baking because it has no trans fats and it has a good taste. Be sure to use the regular version and not the light though. When you're baking and a recipe calls for butter use Smart Balance instead.
The Bad Fats: We all love ice cream, but eating a diet rich in saturated fat raises low density lipoprotein, or the bad cholesterol. Stay away from saturated fats that are found in meats, butter and ice cream, and avoid trans fats which are found in most margarines, meats, packaged foods and fast foods. Most bakery goods use trans fats.
Yes you can have coffee and dry red wine with this eating plan and still lose weight. Just limit yourself to one cup of coffee a day, and leave off the sugar. Use splenda if you want it sweet, and instead of cream use skim milk in your coffee. You can hae one glass of dry red wine a day if you want. It's important for you to enjoy eating and drinking within reason so you will be able to stay with this low glycemic eating scheme for life.
Snacking, what a great idea! Snacking is hugely important to your weight control efforts since it keeps hunger at bay, adds healthy foods into your daily intake and spreads out eating during the day. With snacks in the late afternoon and at night, this is a diet for eaters who love food. I usually have a piece of fruit, a couple of whole grain crackers with soy cheese in the late afternoon, and at night I'll snack on fruit and unsalted nuts. My late afternoon snack takes the edge off my appetite so I don't overeat at dinner.

The following recipe is also from my upcoming book Eating Your Way to Healthy Living.

Pasta Vegetable Casserole
Don't be put off by all the ingredients in this scrumptious vegetarian recipe. It is a perfect dish to bring to a pot luck dinner.

• 16 ounces uncooked whole wheat rotini noodles
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed in garlic press
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 12 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 5 large yellow crookneck squash, sliced
• 4 large zucchini, sliced
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 28 ounce can salt-free diced tomatoes, drained
• handful fresh basil, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Large container low-fat cottage cheese
• 26 ounce jar Classico Fire Roasted Tomato and Garlic Spaghetti sauce
• 1 cup part skim mozzeralla cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Please follow these directions.

1. Cook rotini noodles until they are al dente, or still a little chewy. Do not overcook the pasta. Drain pasta and spread the noodles in the bottom of a large baking pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
2. In a large skillet cook the onions, garlic, mushrooms, yellow squash, zucchini, and green pepper in the olive oil. Stir often and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes until the vegetables are crisp tender.
3. Add the drained tomatoes, the thawed spinach that has been squeezed dry, salt, pepper, oregano and basil to the vegetables. Stir well. Go light on the salt.
   
4. Spoon the vegetables evenly over the pasta in the baking pan. Spoon the cottage cheese over the vegetables and smooth out with the back of a spoon. Put the spaghetti sauce over the cottage cheese and spread that out evenly with the back of a spoon.
5. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the spaghetti sauce, and finally sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top.
   
6. Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes until the cheese is slightly browned and the casserole is bubbly.

Serves 12.