First attempt at making pasta for 1!
 

I am so excited. Before my diet when I made pasta for the family, I'd boil the whole box, add a whole jar, etc and just help myself with out measuring. Well I've been avoiding pasta because of old habits but this morning I thought I'd try making pasta for 1 and it was a first for me!

I measured 3/4 cup dry pasta first, then cookied it. Then I measured 1/2 cup sauce and then I did something special, measured a tiny bit of ranch to see how it tasted mixed with the sauce. It made it creamier and gave it a bit of a kick. I polished it off with a sprinkle of parmesean and it was a delicious 300 calorie breakfast LOL

Just wanted to share, now I feel like I can have pasta and still behave :)

It's amazing how helpful measuring cups and spoons can be! Good for you for portion control. After all, you cannot eat what is uncooked! (Well in the case of pasta you can't) lol.

:carrot:

I am a big fan of measuring before I gook. The problem I have with Pasta is when I am cooking for 3, (no, not Me myself and I ;) Me my sweetie and my BFF). The serving size on the box of pasta I eat is 2oz uncooked. When I cook for myself, I just weigh 2 oz and cook it, drain and eat and good eats at that.
But when I am cooking for 3, how to I measure out each serving after it has been cooked? I suspose I can measure my one serving and then write it on the side of the box, but I never remember to do that when I am cooking for one.

So, does anyone know how much 2 oz of uncooked pasta weights or its volume after it has been cooked?

The fact that pasta calories are being labeled before cooked is really annoying. It made things very tough for me when I didn't have a scale! I got all sorts of conflicting answers from the internet for this question, so I went to the National Pasta Association site.

There is a nifty chart there but effectively 2 oz. of MOST pastas is one cup cooked. The exception to it is egg noodles where 2 oz. = .625 cups. (8 oz = 2/5 cups).

I'm still struggling with getting portion control right when I cook. I made a whole BOX of linguine for three adults this past weekend. (1 was not home for dinner). I have been eating off it for days now one cup at a time. :eating2: My eyes are DEFINITELY bigger than my stomach these days. I'm just afraid that things are going to go bad in the fridge by not getting to them, but darn it if I'm going to eat them "just because".