I had the day off today, so life is good! 
Since I knew I would be off today, I’ve been planning all week to make one of my favorite recipes from Rocco DiSpirito’s Now Eat This cookbook which has quickly become one of my favorite cookbooks.
Yes, I was indeed fortunate enough to receive a complimentary autographed copy from Rocco earlier this year and have tried several of the recipes since getting it. I haven’t tried anything yet that I didn’t love which is pretty amazing. He has done such an amazing job of transforming some classic comfort food favorites into much healthier versions. Every recipe in the book is less than 350 calories, and a good portion of them come in under 300 calories! There’s even a section near the back of the book with healthier versions of some classic sauces (Hollandaise, tartar sauce, salad dressings, etc.) which is really nice.
Anyway, as I was cooking the dish this afternoon, I began to question why on earth I waited for my day off to make it. This recipe is so quick and easy that I could easily have done it any night after work in no more than a half hour. That’s my kind of recipe for weeknight cooking. 
No Cream-No Cry Penne Alla Vodka:
Now, you may be asking yourself how it looks so rich and creamy without any cream in it. Well, Rocco substituted lowfat Greek yogurt in place of the heavy cream one would normally use in this dish. Genius! It helps this notoriously unhealthy recipe come in at only 320 calories and 5g of fat while still retaining all of the wonderful thick and creamy properties of a vodka sauce that we all know and love.
I do need to mention one thing at this point. I completely spaced and forgot to pick up the fresh basil called for in this recipe when I was at the market earlier this week. I substituted some dried basil instead. As a tip, just remember the 3:1 rule for substituting fresh and dried herbs. For every 1 tbsp (3 tsp) of fresh herbs, substitute 1 tsp of the dried version. Conversely, if a recipe calls for 1 tsp. of dried herbs, you could substitute and use 1 tbsp of fresh instead. In the case of this recipe, it calls for 1 cup (16 tbsp) of chopped fresh basil. The math works out like this:
16 ÷ 3 = 5.33
I rounded down and used 5 tsp of the dried basil. It wasn’t quite as good as when I’ve made it in the past with the fresh, but it still worked just fine.
For my dinner tonight, I paired the pasta with 5 ounces of a nice Riesling from Chateau Chantal and a green salad (not shown in the photo below). Riesling wines go quite nicely with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, so it worked well with this dish. The pasta comes in at 6 points on Weight Watchers, and my 5 oz. of wine was another 2 points. Since I only used a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar on the greens, that was 0 points. So, I ended up with a really nice meal (with wine!) for only 8 points. Gotta love that!
If you are interested in this recipe, you can find it online on Oprah’s website. If you want to compare it to Rocco’s original version of Penne Alla Vodka, check it out here. Holy Smokes, no wonder it’s so good with all that heavy cream! 
On the other hand, if you want to get ALL of the wonderful recipes from this cookbook (listing of recipes available here), then you are in luck! Not only did Rocco send me a signed copy for myself, he also sent a second signed copy for me to give away here on my blog.
Ok, let me say right now that I can’t believe I’m actually doing a giveaway right now considering I’m moving in two weeks! Oh well, at least it will be one less thing to move, right?! 
Here are the rules for entering this giveaway (please be sure to follow the rules or you won’t be entered):
- Check out the list of recipes in the book and then leave a comment letting me know which one you would like to try (Minimum entry).
- Receive an additional entry by Tweeting about the giveaway including both @MelGetsFit and #noweatthis in your Tweet (leave a separate comment letting me know).
- Receive an additional entry by blogging about the giveaway and linking back to this post (leave a separate comment with the link to your blog).
As you can see, there is the possibility of having a total of three (3) entries for the drawing. Please remember to leave a separate comment for each entry. Contest ends on Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 11:59pm PT. The winner will be selected using random.org and will be announced in a separate post here on my blog on Friday, August 27, 2010.
I do have a version of comment moderation enabled on this blog to help minimize SPAM. If you’ve not previously commented on my blog, your comment will be held for moderation. So, please don’t panic if you don’t see your comment appear immediately. I will be processing comments several times per day. Once I approve your comment, it will then be visible. Thanks!
Good luck!
Until next time …
Disclosure: I received two copies of “Now Eat This” for purposes of review and this giveaway. No monetary compensation was provided. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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