Maintaining a healthy lifestyle in this current day and age may prove to be quite challenging. The hours in the day don’t seem to be enough to allow for everything that needs to get done. As a result, one of the areas that starts to take a nosedive is our nutritional health. According to a study conducted in the Journal of Health Behaviour, most people, especially busy young adults working more than 40 hours a week; struggle to even get the recommended daily serving of fruits and vegetables.
The same staggering nutritional limitations were also discovered in working parents. A research study done by Cornell University sampled 25 working mothers and 25 working fathers all of whom were in an earning bracket of between low and moderate and averaging a workweek of about 30 to 40 hours. The results showed that more than 50% of the sample retorted to consuming unhealthy foods and drinks due to lack of time. With the majority indicating that conscious healthy eating was a rather time-consuming activity.
Here are 15 ways to prepare the best pasta salads ever, without wasting time.
1. Chilled Italian Shrimp Tortellini Salad
The use of tortellini makes any pasta dish fuller and a lot more filling. This pasta is a stuffed kind of pasta, making it quite tasty as you are adding more flavor to your dish by choosing to stuff it with a sauce or if time isn’t on your side opting to cook it as is. Most Tortellini pasta comes already stuffed, you have the option of choosing a ricotta filling or going healthier with a creamy spinach filling. This kind of pasta is packing in protein per serving portion.
If you thought that was enough health in one pasta, think again, this pasta salad is paired with grilled or lightly fried peeled deveined jumbo shrimps, thinly sliced red onions, celery stalks, chopped parsley and basil and black olives. The added flavor comes from the addition of minced garlic cloves, some ground black pepper, salt, lemon juice and some wine vinegar to hang it up. It also serves about 8 people, containing just 240 calories, 18 grams of carbs, 7 grams of fat and 25 grams of protein per serving.