I have a wedding dress to fit into—I want to be happy with my weight. But wedding stress, on the other hand, makes me want to eat noodles. Oodles of them, in fact. You’d think I’d be out of luck (or looking for a larger dress size), but I recently discovered shirataki pasta, which has 0 calories, no gluten, no soy and no carbs. The brand name that people seem to buy the most at Vitacost is aptly named Miracle Noodles—calorie-free pasta is indeed a miracle! And this brand is also certified non-GMO organic, if you care about that kind of thing (I do.) Eating a bowl of it isn’t all that different than dreaming about eating a bowl of pasta—you really get the experience of pasta without the 200+ calories per cup caloric impact.
If you haven’t tried shirataki pasta, you might be wondering, “Does it taste good?” Well, I’ll be totally honest. You don’t eat a bowl of it plain. That doesn’t really taste like anything. Just take my word for it, please. But once you add some hearty tomato sauce with fresh veggies diced in, or some pesto, or any of your other favorite sauces and spices, you are officially eating pasta! Pinch yourself—you are not dreaming.
Our recipe bloggers have done wonders with this stuff. Check out this recipe for Non-GMO Hemp Pesto by health coach Pamela Higgins. It’s vegan and gluten-free. And for those days when I simply cannot figure out the guest list, there is even a recipe for a vegan “Mac & No Cheese,” which uses squash and cashews for a faux-cheese taste.