Quick And Easy Semi-Homemade Spaghetti and Meatballs {Barilla Review}
By admin
Last week Barilla was nice enough to send me a few boxes of their newest product. I was pretty pumped considering that when I buy pasta, Barilla is the box that 80% of the time goes into the cart.
Dan and I are also big fans of the pasta sauce, it’s a staple for jazzing up veggies and meals in our home. It’s normally a toss up between the Barilla and the Trader Joe’s… which ever is cheaper that week is what gets put in our pantry.
When Barilla asked if I would mind trying their new all-natural, no preservative 60 second meals, I jumped at the opportunity.
You know me, I cook 99.9% of all our dinners but because I don’t get home until after 9 pm three nights of the week, I would love some quick fix meals in the house. So I thought what the heck, it’s worth a shot. After all, they come in whole grain (and regular).
I was really surprised once I received the single serving pasta meals and flipped the boxes over to check out the ingredients and nutritional labels… nothing crazy, I could actually read the list and knew all the ingredients. That’s a score, if the ingredients aren’t in plain English, it’s not welcome into my kitchen. That’s just the harsh reality.
Can you tell I am excited to go “semi-homemade”!
Nutritional Info in The Tomato And Basil Dish: 310 calories; 10 grams of protein; 57 carbs (typical of pasta); 5 grams of fat (0 trans fat).
Not too shabby!
In fact, all of the meals have between 9-11 grams of protein, being a vegan that’s a plus for me! All of them also have 320 calories or less, another score for choosing smart foods for lunches and dinners.
While I love plain old noodles and marinara, for a dinner I wanted to balance it by adding some extra veggies and protein. I decided to make my vegan meatballs for the top of my Barilla dish…
And saute up some pumpkin greens with mushrooms and onions for a side.
In the skillet was 1/2 cup vegetable broth, 1/4 cup sliced onion, mushrooms and 1 tbsp white wine vinegar. Dash of garlic powder and sea salt. Wilt it down and enjoy!
After tossing the star of the plate in the microwave for 60 seconds it was done! I added the “meatballs” and the greens and called it a balanced dinner!
I ended up not using ALL the pasta in the package because of all the extras.
Taste Test…
It was actually really good!
The whole wheat pasta wasn’t too mushy or undercooked and the sauce was just like the jar we have in the pantry! Dan liked his too (we each had a different “flavor”), after trying both he decided his vegetable marinara was better than my tomato & basil sauce.
Dan had the full serving of pasta, that’s a hefty amount for the calories!
Overall I was really pleased, I think these are great for late nights when I just don’t feel like cooking! I can pop one in the microwave toss it on a plate and say “look at the great meal I have prepared!”
I also think it’s a great option for work lunches. Toss one in your bag for the day along with an apple or other piece of fruit and you’re good to go.
The Flavors Include:
- Penne with spicy marinara
- Penne with Tomato and Basil Sauce
- Penne with Traditional marinara
- Whole Wheat Penne with Tomato and Basil (My plate)
- Whole Wheat Fusilli with Vegetable Marinara (Dan’s plate)
- Do you like microwaveable meals?
We had a beach front run on the agenda for the following day (Monday), and it was a great mini-carb meal for prepping us up! Gotta get Dan into the race mode for this Saturday after all!
Beaches Aren’t For Sunbathing
I am sad to announce that we live in a beach city yet I have only been to the beach 3 times total, and only one of those times has been to lay out and swim. Pathetic, huh?
Dan shocked me when he suggested that since the 5K race is on the beach this weekend that it would be fun to get out there and run on the sand to get a feel for it. I was a bit shocked because he doesn’t like to run and we haven’t gone on a run together in over 6 years!
So I didn’t hesitate. We drove out to Folly Beach and do a quick 2.4 mile run. Holy crap, it was hard! The first 1.2 wasn’t tough but coming back, against the wind was brutal. My legs are actually a little sore today.
I was really proud of Dan for running, he did great and didn’t stop once. But I did get satisfaction out of out running him by about 60 seconds (must have been the pasta! lol).
I hope I can do at least that well this weekend, let’s just hope that the wind is a bit more forgiving come the race.
- What’s your favorite pasta brand?
- Do you like running the beach?
*FitFluential LLC compensated me for this Campaign. All opinions are my own.