Al Dente Pasta Recipe #2 {Fish-and-Noodle Soup with Bona Chia Fettuccine}

Hey there, folks! I'm on a roll with blogging this morning! Guess that's what happens when you don't get a chance to post for a while and just keep holding everything in 'til the next chance you get to sit down and blog!

I've been meaning to put this recipe up for a while because: (1) I finally had the chance to experiment with Al Dente Pasta's Bona Chia Fetteccine, which, to no surprise, is everything I had hoped it would be, and (2) I think this is actually a unique/original recipe worth trying for the seafood lovers out there because it's simple, fast, and healthy (my motto when it comes to preparing a meal).

{Simple Fish-and-Noodle Soup}

Ingredients: (serves 4)

• 4 fillets of fresh wild Alaskan salmon
• 2-4 C water or broth of choice (Depending on your preference of broth to substance ratio. I used 2 cups water.)
• Seasonings: salt, bay leaf, pepper corns, fresh fill (Lemon juice and fish sauce would also make great additions.)
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

• Combine water and 1 tsp salt (or to taste) in a medium sauce pan
• Bring to boil
• Add fish fillets and 1 tbsp olive oil
• Reduce to simmer
• Add a bay leaf and a few pepper corns
• Cook for ~20 min or until the fish is cooked
• In the meantime, cook the noodles in a separate pan according to cooking instructions on the package (Bona Chia Fettuccine takes just 3 min to cook!). I also steamed some string beans for extra greenery.
• Top with fresh dill and enjoy! (Fresh parsley would also be quite wonderful!)

Bona Chia Fettuccine was incredibly soft and delicious - just like homemade fresh pasta! There was no chia crunch, however - I believe that's because it's made with ground chia. But! I could feel that smooth texture that chia gets when it absorbs liquid. If you've ever had chia, you know what I mean. One serving size is 1.5 cups and has 200 calories, 4 g of fiber, and 7 g of protein!

Why haven't others thought of using chia to make pasta?! It is used in baking after all. What a fantastic (and yummy!) idea! Once again, Al Dente Pasta gets two thumbs up. It is making the option of eating good ole' regular pasta not exciting at all. My family is loving Al Dente Pasta, too! My mom has already asked several times, Where can we get more? 

Hope you try this recipe! In all honesty, it's a very forgiving recipe that really allows you to use whatever spices and flavors you'd like. It's a great option for reusing leftovers, too. You can broil/bake the fish ahead of time, steam some veggies, cook some pasta or rice, use broth of choice, and just combine all the ingredients whenever you would like to have them in a soup version! Here is a fantastic-looking recipe I'd like to try soon.

Tell me: Have you ever made fish soup before? What seasonings/spices do you use?

Al Dente Pasta Recipe #1 {Whole Wheat Linguine with Chicken and Apple Sausage in Garlicky Tomato Sauce}

TGIF! TGIF! TGIF!

If you watched my vlog earlier this week, you know how excited I was about the samples of Al Dente Pasta I received. I love pasta, but unfortunately it doesn't have the greatest rep among the many other wholesome carbohydrates. (Buckwheat, quinoa, millet, barley, wheat berries: I'm looking at you!)

For me, pasta is a treat that I love to have on occasion (I'm talking about the original white processed goodness that is just so comforting). Most of the time, my family makes whole wheat pasta, and as good as it is, it just isn't the same... It's kind of "heavy"-tasting, if you ask me.

But it looks like Al Dente Pasta is about to change all that... Call it Al Dente Revolution? Methinks so!

I decided to begin my Al Dente culinary adventure with the Whole Wheat Plus Flax Linguine.

1+1/2 cup serving size?! 5g of fiber?! 8g of protein?! YUP!

Short for time because of school, and with a growling stomach, I grabbed the package of Applegate Farms Organic Chicken and Apple Sausage that I spotted in ShopRite last weekend.

A quick fix turned into a delicious, healthy meal...

{Whole Wheat Linguine with Chicken and Apple Sausage in Garlicky Tomato Sauce}

I began by sautéing 1/2 yellow onion in olive oil with a dash of salt. I then added 3 chopped cloves of garlic and sauteed a little more. Finally, I sliced up 4 sausage links, and also added about 2 tbsp ketchup + about 1/4 cup V8 juice.

[I've never had Applegate Farms sausage before, but was so happy to discover it. It's all natural and organic! The Chicken + Apple combo was a savory treat!]

Served over a bed of linguine...

...and

...it took just one bite to realize that I will never go back to the plain-white-pasta-eating-days.

Now, I've had fresh pasta made from scratch before, so I know what the real stuff tastes like... (And by real I mean fresh pasta made at home by an Italian mom) So please believe me when I say, this pasta tastes so real, so fresh, so wholesome, and SO GOOD.

[Do you see the little specks of whole wheat in the linguine? That's how you know it's real!]

Yes, I'm talking about whole wheat pasta - the stuff that I thought is supposed to taste un-pasta-like. And no, not an exaggeration. My taste buds now understand the meaning of high quality gourmet pasta, and (for better or for worse) they now have seriously high expectations... Good thing I still have more Al Dente pasta left for future culinary experiments! ;)

Wish it didn't take me this long to realize that pasta can be both wholesome and delicious, and that my pasta-lover-appetite didn't have to be suppressed all these years... But surely better later than never!

Al Dente Pasta - welcome to my life! :)

Too excited right now - Al Dente Pasta! {Giveaway}

I am so excited right now because I just received a package from Al Dante Pasta with their three new products: (1) Bona Chia Fettuccini (2) Whole Wheat Linguine (3) Spinach Pappardelle

Watch this first, and then keep reading! :)

I first learned about Al Dente Pasta when I watched a recent news segment on Top 5 Food Trends. It's BonaChia pastas were selected from nearly 80,000 other new products to be featured (that surely has got to be such an honor and so exciting!)

Just a few minutes of browsing through their website, and I couldn't contain the excitement of the pasta lover in me... I reached out to the company and heard back from Monique - the co-founder of Al Dente Pasta (it was founded in 1981 by a husband-and-wife team! Love that!). Customer service of a family-run business surely can't get any better that that. Monique kindly offered to send me a few of their new products to try and to contribute to their growing number of recipes... and to sponsor a giveaway for ya'll!

High in fiber and protein, low in fat and sugar, and made from the highest quality of all natural (and local!!!) ingredients, these Al Dente Pastas have officially found a special place in my heart.

Al Dente Pasta only uses the very best ingredients—100 percent North American-Grown durum wheat, farm fresh eggs plus premium herbs and spices. While many conventional pasta makers extrude their pasta in order to speed production, Al Dente uses the time-honed tradition of rolling out its pasta dough. This process called “sheeting,” duplicates rolling pasta dough with a rolling pin which Monique’s mentor, famed Italian cook Marcella Hazan, believed was essential to creating the best pasta. Sheeting is a slow and precise process that allows Al Dente to achieve the sublime, velvety texture that has made it a favorite on dinner tables across North America.
Al Dente Pasta, now a classic in all 50 states and Canada, has never lost the character of a truly “specialty” product.  Al Dente’s  values are reflected in the honest packaging of each and every bag of pasta.  Taking no shortcuts, working closely with the growers and millers of our durum wheat, using the “real thing” when it comes to flavors, taking total responsibility for the manufacturing of our pasta (we are the manufacturers, not just the marketers of Al Dente Pasta.)  Al Dente is the specialty pasta maker who balances old world tradition and authenticity with a contemporary, friendly approach to bringing the best that America has to offer-an affordable luxury.
Al Dente hosts a wide variety of original, classic flavors, such as Spinach, Egg, Garlic Parsley, Basil, Squid, Wild Mushroom and Spicy Sesame.  Keeping up with the times, the Deschaines continuously expand their offerings with pastas like, Carba-Nada (reduced carbs, revered by diabetics and weight watchers alike), Al Dente’s Whole Wheat Pasta (known for pleasing people who don’t usually like whole grain pasta), a line of beautifully packaged “Organic Duets” (combining unique and exciting flavors that push the pasta envelope) and most recently introduced (and big in every way) are the Pappardelle pastas!

I can't wait to get creative in the kitchen and experience "the satisfying taste and texture of traditionally made pasta with a modern twist." Please stay tuned for my culinary creations. And in the mean time, why don't you enter this wonderful giveaway for a chance to win the same 3 bags of Al Dente pasta - Bona Chia Fettussini, Whole Wheat Linguine, and Spinach Pappardelle.

TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:

• Visit the the main site and tell me which Al Dente Pasta you are most excited to try.
• What is your favorite pasta dish? (Hint hint - I'm looking for some inspirations!)
• Like Al Dente Pasta on Facebook
• Follow Al Dente Pasta on Twitter
• Like my page on Facebook
• Follow me on Twitter
• Subscribe to my blog (via WordPress or email)

PLEASE LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT on my WordPress Blog FOR EACH STEP YOU COMPLETE!
You can complete one or all of them to be entered!
Deadline to enter: Sunday, April 1 at midnight EST.

This is so exciting! (I must have said that already 5 times...)