Clean Eating: Spinach-Mushroom Macaroni with Chicken Meatballs

I love pasta. There is something so comforting about eating a big old bowl of carbs. However, eating a lot of pasta isn't so friendly for the waistline, so I always try to figure out ways to have my pasta but not go too overboard on the calories. One of the ways to cut calories is to have a healthy sauce instead of one saturated in fattening cheese or dripping with fatty beef sauce. So, today's recipe is my version of pesto spaghetti and meatballs (except with elbows instead of spaghetti, chicken instead of beef and spinach instead of basil). And what I like most about this dish is that the noodles are quinoa noodles instead of the normal semolina. You won't even notice the difference.

Chicken Meatball Ingredients:
1 lb. ground chicken breast
1/4 cup egg whites
1 tbsp. wheat germ
1 oz. favorite cheese (I'll confess that I used a non clean cheese for this; use something around 70 cals.)
2 tsp. crushed red pepper flake
2 tsp. dried onion
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. sea salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F.

Put ground chicken breast in a large bowl. Add seasonings, cheese, egg whites and wheat germ. Mix well with hands. Form into ping-pong sized balls (makes 16 meatballs).

Place a baking rack on top of a cookie sheet. Spray with cooking spray. Place meatballs on baking rack.

Bake for 20 minutes until cooks through.

Nutrition Facts
Serves 4
Serving Size 4 meatballs (141.8g)
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Calories - 142
Calories from Fat - 18
Total Fat - 2.0g
Saturated Fat - 0.8g
Cholesterol - 70mg
Sodium - 379mg
Total Carbohydrates - 4.2g
Dietary Fiber - 0.8g
Sugar - 1.7g
Protein - 27.3g
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Vitamin A - 2%
Vitamin C - 2%
Calcium - 2%
Iron - 7%


Spinach-Mushroom Macaroni Ingredients:
4 oz. dry quinoa pasta elbows
8 oz. frozen spinach
6 oz. sliced mushrooms
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 tbsp. whole wheat flour
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flake

Directions:
Bring a medium pot of water to boil and add 1/4 tsp. salt (use more for taste if you like). Add elbow pasta to salted water, and cook for 9 minutes.

Meanwhile, add olive oil to a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and spinach, and saute until mushrooms have browned. Sprinkle flour around pan and stir to cook with mushrooms and spinach. Add chicken broth, seasonings and garlic to pan, and stir until thickened, reducing heat to medium-low. Before draining pasta, add a ladle full of pasta water to saute pan.

Drain pasta and add to spinach-mushroom sauce. Stir for 3 minutes and remove from heat.

Nutrition Facts
Serves 4
Serving Size 191.2g
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Calories - 174
Calories from Fat - 42
Total Fat - 4.7g
Saturated Fat - 0.6g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 300mg
Total Carbohydrates - 29.3g
Dietary Fiber - 4.8g
Sugar - 1.3g
Protein - 6.7g
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Vitamin A - 137%
Vitamin C - 4%
Calcium - 9%
Iron - 18%


Serve one-quarter of the pan of pasta topped with 4 chicken meatballs. Enjoy!