Eat Well to Win

The email finally came to announce the next weigh in for Biggest Loser SONFIT Edition. Participants, mark your calendars for:

Monday, October 11th 12PM-1PM
Tuesday, October 12th 12PM – 1PM

An important part of health is a good diet, which may seem a little difficult for us students. Either no time, no money, or no ideas, we have excuses a mile long reasoning why the trenta cup of coffee and protein bar justifies a wholesome meal. The meal-replacement bar being 75% organic with 10 grams of protein doesn’t mean it can replace your dinner all the time! How about a quick meal with only 5 ingredients that can feed you and a friend?

Pasta with Avocado Cream Sauce and Cherry Tomatoes

Serves 2
Ingredients:

  • 1 avocado, very ripe
  • 1 lemon
  • 1-3 cloves of garlic (depending on how much you like garlic)
  • 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 5 oz uncooked pasta, 2 servings (try for whole wheat or buckwheat noodles)
  • salt & pepper, to taste

Zest the lemon and save the zest for garnishing at the end. Keep this with your cherry tomatoes off to the side.

Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add your pasta and cook for the recommended amount of time. If you use whole wheat pasta, which usually takes about 12-13 minutes to cook, you can prepare the sauce while the pasta is still cooking. If not, do one thing at a time! Reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta water.

For the sauce: Peel and wash your garlic cloves. Then cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, and scoop the avocado meat into a food processor or blender. (If you’re having trouble with cutting the avocado, or this is your first time, check out this helpful video.) Cut the lemon and squeeze all the juice into the blender. Add the garlic cloves, salt, pepper, and reserved pasta water. Blend well until you get a uniform consistency.

Divide the cooked pasta into two bowls and pour the sauce evenly over the two dishes. Top with the reserved tomatoes, lemon zest, salt, pepper, and if you like spicy food like me, some red pepper flakes (cayenne would go great with this dish too).

Nutritional breakdown (per serving) **Note this is only an estimation and I used Barilla Plus Pasta in this calculation, but any whole wheat pasta would be comparable
400 Calories
13.5 g Fat (All healthy, plant based fats)
56.5 g Carbohydrates
13 g Protein
10 g Fiber

Hopefully this quick filling dish can make it into your upcoming weeknight dinner plans. This recipe from Oh She Glows is what inspired me to make my own version of the dish. My roomie and I love this dish. Try it with soba noodles, the dark colored pasta looks really pretty and it’s a great gluten-free option. Eating well is a big part of staying healthy and on track in any diet goal, whether it’s SONFIT Biggest Loser or your own personal goals. Bon apetit!