We are always looking for some easy to make Italian dishes, right? So, why not create those "easy to make" italian dishes healthy style? The following dishes are typical 'unhealthy' meals that I have "healthified." They are absolutely scrumptious, so enjoy!

Lasagna. You're going to use the same basic ingredients as you would with normal lasagna, only use a 'healthy way of thinking'. Remember, like cutting costs, cutting calories is as simple as common sense!

Ingredients:

• One box whole wheat lasagna noodles
• One jar pasta sauce LOOK AT THE LABEL!
• One large container fat free ricotta cheese
• One pound 97% fat free ground beef (or turkey etc)
• One package sliced reduced fat mozarella cheese- if you can't find sliced get shredded. If you don't mind the texture, get the fat free! The only difference is that it melts a little differently than cheese with fat

1. Add the noodles to boiling water and cook until al dente (don't add salt or oil). Drain and set aside. Separate the individual noodles so they don't stick together.
2. Cook the ground beef on the stove- do not add any butter, oil, salt, etc. Just brown the beef and then drain any excess fluid.
3. Mix the ricotta cheese, the ground beef, and the about half the jar of pasta sauce.

4. In a 13x9 pan, pour 1/4 jar of pasta sauce on the bottom. Next put one layer of noodles on the bottom of the pan.
5. On top of the noodles, spoon out a portion of the beef/sauce/cheese mix.
6. Repeat layer of noodles followed by layer of beef mix, making sure that the very top layer in the pan is noodles.
7. Pourvthe remaining 1/4 jar of pasta sauce over the entire pan. Spread the slices of mozzarella cheese or sprinkle the shredded cheese evenally over the lasagna.
8. Bake in a preheated oven (350) until cheese is bubbly and golden brown. YUM!

Pasta with meat sauce-- what could be better, honestly? This is such a classic dish and yet it is usually filled with WAY too many calories. Let's see if we can make it a bit more healthy, shall we?

Ingredients:

• One pound whole wheat pasta (shape of your choice)
• One jar of pasta sauce (look at the nutritional info)
• Optional: fat free parmesan cheese
• One pound 97% fat free ground beef (turkey etc)

1. Add the pasta to boiling water and cook to desired tenderness (remember no salt, no oil, etc)
2. While pasta is cooking, brown the meat on the stove and drain any excess fluid (no salt, butter, etc)
3. Add sauce to meat pan and stir until warmed through

And that's it- a meal that you can easily cut down the calories on (and increase the health factor!) Remember, though, you have to eat in portions. One cup of pasta is equal to a serving. With this meal, have a cup of pasta with 1/2 cup of sauce/meat mix. YUM!

Ok, so garlic bread isn't really a meal per se, but it is still an important side dish that goes with many meals! I assure you, you won't just eat it with pasta! It is very simple and with just two minor changes, you can go from "stay away from the bread, stay away from the bread" to "yes I'll take another, thanks."

1. Replace white bread or loaf bread or italian bread with light wheat sliced bread. You know, the kind that is 50 calories for 2 slices; something like 4g fiber (sometimes more depending)
2. Replace stick or tub butter/margarine with 5 sprays from a non-butter spray (5 sprays- 10 calories)

And that's it. Take your bread, spray it a couple of times, sprinkle on garlic powder to taste and broil in the oven until golden brown. You now went from 100 calories/piece of garlic bread to 50 calories for 2 pieces of garlic bread. Congrats and enjoy. YUM!

GCT Crockpot is my way of saying this is a 3 ingredient recipe that's really tasty and low cal. So, what does "GCT" mean? It stands for the 3 ingredients of course; Green beans, Chicken, and Tomatoes. And of course, you put them into a crockpot.

1. You're going to need a large bag of frozen green beans. Whatever cut you like, just get the kind that isn't in butter or oil or cheese. You just want plain frozen green beans.
2. A large can of stewed tomatoes. You can also sub the stewed for diced tomatoes. Read the nutritional info. People always overlook the label and they end up getting a product that has 50-100 more calories and 2-8 more grams of fat than what is available.
3. Chicken breasts. I prefer the perdue portions chicken because it's a single serving piece of chicken that's of legitimate size. It's not a "mondo chicken" claiming to be a single serving.
4. Put the chicken on the bottom of crock pot then dump in the green beans and the tomatoes (juice and all). Mix the beans and tomatoes and spread evenly over the chicken.
5. DONE! Cook on low for about 4 hours.

What do you get? Delicious tender chicken with 2 servings of veggies- a really really low cal meal that's italian style. Want to make it more italian? Add in some garlic or oregano or other italian seasoning. Add in some more veggies- mushrooms are delic too! Or add in some pasta sauce or cheese but remember if you add one of these, add on the calories and fat, too!

Ok, you caught me- Chicken Parm is by far, my most favorite meal. It's just so delicious and perfect. Unfortunately, it's extremely bad for you. So, I altered the ingredients and low and behold, I came up with a diet-friendly recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• Chicken of actual portion size-3oz. (perdue portions for example)
• Pasta Sauce (look at the label, please). Don't get caught with a high cal or high fat sauce. Get something that is 50 calories or less for 1/2-1 cup
• Reduced fat provolone or mozzarella (or fat free, depending on your taste)
• Seasonings; garlic, oregano, italian blend
• Optional: 1 cup cooked whole wheat pasta sprayed with non butter spray

This is very simple to make and requires one pan (unless you make the pasta to go with it- then you need two pans).

1. Cook the piece of chicken in a frying pan until tender and no pink is left in the center of the chicken.

2. Reduce heat on stove to LOW. Pour 1/4 c. pasta sauce (if you chose correctly, this should be about 25 calories) over the chicken

3. When sauce begins to warm up, place one slice of reduced fat or fat free cheese over top of the sauce and chicken
4. Put a pan lid of the chicken "stack" so that the moisture is trapped and the cheese melts.

DONE! Delicious healthy chicken parm dinner! Enjoy. YUM!