This 21 Day Fix Pasta fa*gioli recipe is a simple, delicious and healthy winter meal that the whole family will love!
Well here we are, in the year 2016. Do you remember when we were younger and saying a year that started with "20" made it sound like we were on Star Trek or something? So outlandishly in the future that surely by then there would be hoverboards, flying cars, computer chip-in-your-head communication devices and such?
I guess some of those things exist, but they're not exactly common. Get with it smart people, make this whole flying car thing happen!
Anyway, now that the holidays are over, I know you guys are all ready to get back on track with your eating and your workouts, right? I know I am, I definitely had a few too many cookies and it's possible that my weights have collected some dust. It happens.
It's ok though, because since I've started the 21 Day Fix, I find it so much easier to get back on track. Mostly because I feel like a few extra cookies and a few missed workouts doesn't really take me off track.
Anyway, how was everyone's Christmas? Mine was pretty darn perfect. We had a wonderful Christmas day at home in which we opened our presents, played all day and ate sushi for dinner. It. was. awesome. So which gift totally won Christmas?
Our family gift from Santa, this microphone stand karaoke machine (affiliate link). Seriously, have I mentioned that I'm also a private rockstar? True story. Anyway, then we went to Ohio and visited lots of friends and family. There's just nothing like a trip home, I'm missing everyone already.
So let's get back to this amazing soup. I feel like Pasta fa*gioli is one of those you either love it or you hate it kind of things. It's probably the chickpeas, they're a bit of a controversial ingredient.
I used to be firmly on the "hate it" team, but not even because of the chickpeas. You see, this recipe is the original one from my grandmother (which I absolutely adore), but it's not the way my mom makes it so when I was a kid I always thought I didn't like it.
My mom likes to use whole canned tomatoes instead of our delicious homemade sauce. I never liked the texture of that because there would always be the hard-ish pieces from the stem end of the tomato and it just felt wrong. Sorry, Mom!
Also, large pieces of tomato that you'd have to work your butt off to cut with a spoon (not an easy task) to consume. In truth, I may be a bit of a lazy eater, which is why I never order fajitas in a restaurant. If I wanted to make it myself I would have stayed home.
Pretty much the only restaurant item that I'm willing to work for are crab legs. Because crab legs.
A few things about this recipe: I used leftover sauce from my All Day Tomato Sauce recipe, but feel free to use whatever no-sugar-added tomato sauce (pasta sauce, not plain tomato sauce from a can) that you like or have on hand.
Because I used this sauce, which has a higher calorie count than a meat-free sauce, I counted this as a purple. If you are using a no-sugar-added pasta sauce from a jar or maybe made the All Day Tomato Sauce without the meat, you can count it as a green. If you have any questions on how to count this, feel free to contact me, I'm happy to help!
Also, it might be tough to find the whole wheat ditalini pasta at the store, so I ordered mine (this is the one that I used), but you could certainly sub any smallpasta shape (or even whole wheat pearl couscous - like this stuff- which you can usually get at the store).
Since there isn't a protein in this soup, I usually eat it for lunch or even as a snack, but you could always throw in a little cooked chicken if you like 🙂
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If you make this 21 Day Fix Pasta fa*gioli be sure to snap a pic and tag me@thefoodieandthefixon Instagramso I can check it out! It makes me ridiculously happy to see what you guys are making 🙂
📖 Recipe
Pasta fa*gioli
Yield: 5 Servings
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup cooked whole wheat ditalini pasta (about ¾ cup dry), reserving ½ cup of the pasta cooking water (if you can't find this shape, feel free to substitute with another small shape like elbows or mini shells)
- 2 cups of this All Day Tomato Sauce or whatever no-sugar-added pasta sauce you have on hand - you're going to take a couple of tablespoons from this to keep your pasta from sticking, just fyi.
- 2 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
- ½ onion, whole
- 1 ¼ cup canned chickpeas (1 can, rinsed and drained)
- ⅓ grated pecorino-romano cheese (or your favorite hard, grated cheese), plus more for topping (up to 1 ½ tbs per serving)
- 2 - 3 Tbs chopped parsley
Instructions
- Combine the pasta with the chickpeas and a couple of tablespoons of the tomato sauce (to keep the pasta from sticking together) and set aside.
- To a medium pot, add ½ cup of pasta water, the tomato sauce, the chicken broth and the onion. Cover, bring to a bubble, uncover and let simmer for 10 minutes or so. Remove the onion and discard. Turn off the heat and add the parsley and ⅓ cup of grated cheese.
- To serve, in each bowl add 1 cup of the broth and ½ cup of the pasta/chickpea mixture. Top with an additional 1 ½ Tbs of grated cheese if you like (I like.)
Notes
21 Day Fix Container Counts per Serving: 1 Yellow, ½ Purple (or ½ Green, see note in post), ½ Blue
Weight Watchers Personal Points Link: Pasta fa*gioli
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 5
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 250Total Fat: 6g
