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Tomato Spinach Garlic Shrimp Pasta
This healthy tomato spinach garlic shrimp pasta recipe is full of fresh colorful ingredients, bold flavors and hearty whole wheat pasta that is sure to leave you feeling full and satisfied.
Pasta/Salad Hybrid
If pasta and salad made a baby, it would be this recipe. Part colorful fresh ingredients and part hearty delicious pasta.
This is the perfect recipe to satisfy a noodle craving and feel good about getting in lots of fresh fruits and veggies making it the best of both worlds!
Portion Control Strategy
To me a “healthy” portion of pasta looks like it would be enough food to feed a Barbie doll. I don’t mean a tall, thin, beautiful woman. I mean a literal toy Barbie doll. Colossal plates of spaghetti, bottomless pasta bars and 3 lb. bowls of mac & cheese are the new norm.
Believe it or not, there are easy portion control strategies that help you feel full and satisfied with healthy portions. This particular recipe uses the Filler Ingredient Strategy. A Filler Ingredient is a healthy food that is used to amp up a meal and trick your brain into thinking you’re eating larger portion sizes than you actually are.
Checkout the picture below. Both bowls have the same amount of pasta. The portion of pasta in Bowl A looks tiny while the portion of pasta in Bowl B looks huge because Bowl B uses chicken and broccoli as Filler Ingredients.
The Shrimp Pasta recipe in this post uses spinach, tomatoes and shrimp as Filler Ingredients to make the portion of pasta appear larger. This helps convince your brain that the amount of pasta will be filling and satisfying. It seriously works wonders!
Other Recipes That Use This Portion Control Strategy
Examples of other recipes that use this strategy include Healthy Buffalo Chicken Cauliflower Dip, Fresh Taco Salad and Make-Ahead Apple Raisin Oatmeal.
How to Make Tomato Spinach Garlic Shrimp Pasta
Tomato Spinach Garlic Shrimp Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 lb. raw shrimp, (see note 1)
- 8 oz. whole wheat spaghetti
- 4 cups fresh spinach
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 Tbsp. butter
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 4 Tbsp. parmesan, optional
- 1 Tbsp. parsley, optional
Instructions
- Make Pasta: Bring a pot of water to a boil and add a handful of salt to the water. Then add the pasta to the boiling water and cook to desired doneness (7-12 minutes). Strain and set aside.
- Prep Fruit/Veggies: Peel and mince garlic. Cut lemon into wedges. Cut cherry tomatoes in half.
- Prep Shrimp: Remove the tails from the shrimp simply by pinching the base of the tail and pulling it off. Season with a couple pinches of salt.
- Cook Shrimp: Add olive oil and butter to a large pan over medium heat. Cook the shrimp for 2-3 minutes on each side or until opaque and slightly pink/orange. Add the garlic for the last 30 seconds of cooking.
- Bring It Together: Add the pasta, spinach and tomatoes to the pan. Season with a couple pinches of salt. Cook for another 3-5 minutes while stirring.
- Enjoy: Serve with lemon wedges to squeeze over the pasta. Top with parmesan and parsely (optional). Enjoy!
