Healthy Pantry Dinner - Tuna & Pea Pasta
Happy Monday Squadies! After releasing my emergency Checklist yesterday, I bet you are all wondering, what kind of meals can I make with all these healthy emergency food supplies?! Don’t worry squadies! I got you covered! Today I will be sharing with you a LEANLICIOUS, HEALTHY and EASY dinner recipe you can make with ALL pantry and/or frozen items! All these items can be found on my emergency checklist! I will be making a healthy Tuna and pea chickpea pasta!
Referring to my last post, I talked about making sure you have ALL these sections covered when stocking up on healthy foods: protein, fat, carbs and vegetables. In this single meal, you will cover all 4 of these sections, making for a balanced and nutritious meal.
Let's start off with the base of the dish which is our carb: chickpea pasta!
Chickpea pasta is an excellent choice for a healthy pantry dinner! Chickpeas contain healthy sources of protein, fat, fibre and carbs. Unlike traditional white pasta, which main ingredient is white flour, chickpea pasta offers a ton more nutrients! One serving of chickpea pasta in comparison to your average white pasta, you are eating almost half the calories, with double the protein and fibre! Although these exact numbers may vary depending on brand, overall, chickpea pasta is definitely a way healthier choice! With this in mind, chickpea pasta is a great replacement for any traditional pasta recipe!
Next let’s look at our main protein source: Tuna!
Canned tuna is a great source of healthy proteins and healthy fat! The best part?! Tuna will stay fresh in your pantry for months making for a perfect emergency protein! Another great aspect of this ingredient is that it requires little to no time to prepare! Coming pre-cooked, all you have to do is open the can, drain it and its ready to go! Can’t get easier then that!
The next ingredient we will be looking at are peas!
We gotta get our greens in! Peas are a good source of protein and many essential vitamins and minerals. Per serving, peas contain high amounts of fibre, protein, vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamin C,and Manganese. Peas are also easily accessible and can be found frozen or canned. If you do not have any peas available, you can easily swap them out for any other frozen or canned greens you may have such as broccoli or rapini. Whatever green you have available to help you create this healthy pantry dinner!
Lastly let's talk about our sauce!
The sauce is made up of 2 ingredients: Olive oil and garlic. Olive oil is a great source of healthy fats, which will help you stay satiated for longer. Garlic is a highly nutritious food and is also easily accessible. You can buy it fresh as it has a long shelf life, or you can choose to buy it frozen or pre-diced.
This entire healthy pantry dinner is super easy to make and can be prepared in under 20 minutes! Find the FULL recipe and ingredients below:
LEAN-GREDIENTS:
- 4oz bag of chickpea pasta (whatever kind you prefer)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 large garlic cloves
- 1 5oz can on tuna, drained
- 2 cups frozen or canned peas
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- About 1 tbsp chopped parsley (fresh, frozen, or dried)
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Grated Parmesan cheese to serve
LEAN-STRUCTIONS:
- Boil water and cook pasta according to package.
- When pasta is one minute from ready, add peas into the boiling water.
- Once pasta is done, drain, leaving a couple tbsp of the water to put into the sauce.
- In saucepan over medium, add olive oil. Once heated add garlic and cook for 30 seconds or until garlic is golden brown
- Add tuna, lemon juice and parsley to sauce pan.
- Add pasta, peas and 2 tbsp of water to sauce, thoroughly mix and serve with parmesan cheese!