Edible Whole Wheat Pasta: Fact or Granola-Hippie Myth?

[SADShooter]

So, in a fit of uncharacteristically optimistic health consciousness  , I bought some whole-wheat rotini. In full disclosure, it was Target's generic Market Pantry brand, but I've had decent luck with their regular pasta products.

Cooked to a careful al dente, the flavor and texture were marginally more appealing than simply shredding the box it came packaged in.  Is there a "healthier" pasta product worth eating, or should I be content balancing my beer and bacon habits with brown rice and steel-cut oatmeal?

Thanks,

SADShooter

[RoadKingLarry]

I like whole wheat stuff but the whole wheat pasta I've tried was less than wonderful. If I want "healthy" past I'll go for the veggie stuff.

[41magsnub]

Ronzoni Healthy Harvest.     The purple box version that looks like white pasta but isn't.  Looking for a link.

I like the brown box whole wheat version too but it is a traditional whole wheat pasta.

Here it is.  Ronzoni Smart Taste Not actually whole wheat but beats their whole wheat in all of the nutrition categories including fiber.

http://ronzonismarttaste.newworldpasta.com/index.cfm?

[280plus]

Beat me to it. It also helps if you mix regular with wheat 50/50

[BridgeRunner]

The Ronzoni thin spaghetti in the brown box is pretty good.  The problem with most whole wheat pasta is texture--the outside gets slimy and overcooked before the inside is done.  No such issues with the thin spaghetti.   

Add some vegetables & meat or cheese to a jarred sauce and it's one of those rare nutritionally complete one-dish meals.

[French G.]

I like the Barilla Plus. Not whole wheat, but made with a lot of legumes and stuff so it's a protein bomb even before you add bacon meatballs.

http://www.barillaus.com/Pages/Product-Landing.aspx?brandID=5
Ingredients

Semolina, grain and legume flour blend, [grains and legumes (lentils, chickpeas, flaxseed, spelt, barley, oats), egg whites, oat fiber], durum flour, niacin, iron (ferrous sulfate), thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid.

[PTK]

Agreed on the Ronzoni stuff, never tried the Barilla Plus, but that sounds good too. :)

[cordex]

Personally, I like my whole wheat in home-made bread.  Whole-wheat pasta tastes gritty to me.

[Balog]

Wife can't eat much regular pasta (glycemic index eating lest she become diabetic) so we tried a lot of whole wheat pasta. Almost all of it is terrible. We did find some good stuff, including elbows and the little shaped pastas. Can't remember it now, I'll look it up and get back to you.

[dm1333]

Why not just bypass the pasta altogether?

Is there a "healthier" pasta product worth eating, or should I be content balancing my beer and bacon habits with brown rice and steel-cut oatmeal?

I balance my beer and bacon with vegetables.  I try to limit my intake of wheat products and processed carbs.  Every bit of pasta is just a little less room for beer.  My real weakness is that the candy machine guy keeps putting Ho Ho's in the machine at work.

[Monkeyleg]

Why not just bypass the pasta altogether?

I balance my beer and bacon with vegetables.  I try to limit my intake of wheat products and processed carbs.  Every bit of pasta is just a little less room for beer.  My real weakness is that the candy machine guy keeps putting Ho Ho's in the machine at work.

:D

[Northwoods]

Can't help you much as we have to go even farther than whole wheat.  Gluten free, baby.

Actually, especially in the last 5 years or so, GF food, and pasta especially has gotten pretty decent.

[KD5NRH]

Is there a "healthier" pasta product worth eating,

Sure; whatever the store across town carries.  Just leave your car in the garage and run or bike over there for it.

As soon as the weather warms back up, I'll be back on my "ride a lot and eat whatever the hell I want" diet.  It's only good for 2-3 pounds of weight loss a week, but then I've only got about 20 to lose.  There's something satisfying about riding to Sonic and having the heart rate monitor show that you've balanced out the entire greasy meal.

[erictank]

Can't help you much as we have to go even farther than whole wheat.  Gluten free, baby.

Actually, especially in the last 5 years or so, GF food, and pasta especially has gotten pretty decent.

Gluten-free thread derail -

Tinkyada gluten-free pasta FTW.  My wife's allergic to wheat (among other things), so we've tried a wide assortment of rice-based pastas, and keep on coming back to Tinkyada.  Most of the rice pastas we've tried range from 'meh' to horrific - wish I could remember the name of that one brand we got which formed this gooey congealed mass swimming in liquid starch when cooked per directions , but the Tinkyada brand, every single kind, tastes like and has a texture resembling decent real pasta.  I don't have a label handy to post nutritional info for comparison, though.  Combine that with the pumpkin-based pasta sauce recipe Lori found last year, and we can have spaghetti the kids will eat and that's safe for her, as well - she's allergic to wheat, eggs, tomato, sunflower oil/seeds, flax, thyme (I know, right?), and almonds, as well as mold/mildew, tobacco smoke, and pet dander in the non-food category.  Thank God none of it's anaphylactic-shock-type allergies, they (the food allergies, at least) present rather like Celiac disease - digestive symptoms, mostly, with the non-food allergies turning up moderate to heavy congestion issues - but it can be a pain finding stuff for her to eat.

Oh, if you haven't seen it yet - Gluten-Free Bisquick is also firmly in the 'WIN' category.  We've done chicken-and-dumpling soup and pancakes with it so far, both of which turned out light and fluffy, which I'm sure you've learned is a real rarity in GF breadstuffs.  Pricy, but worth it.  I've seen (and regularly buy) both Tinkyada pasta and GF Bisquick at my local Safeway and Giant Foods grocery stores.

I'm sure you've heard of the Gluten Free Mall online by now.  If not, check 'em out: glutenfreemall.com.

/thread derail

[Northwoods]

We did, a couple months ago discover the Bisquick GF pancake mix.  Pretty good, compearable to Pamelas.

We've been using Tinkyada pasta for years.  It's gotten good enough that I don't mind eating it even if wheat pasta is available.  I do remember some aweful pasta SWMBO tried making probably 10-12 years ago.  Tasted like the snot you cough up when you have a cold.    I took one bite and threw out the rest.  So did she.

[Chuck Dye]

Not exactly responsive to the OP, but the Japanese buckwheat soba is a great noodle for a lot of dishes beyond Japanese cuisine.  Check the label for ingredients, the 100% buckwheat brands are gluten free.

[SADShooter]

Thanks, all. Pasta is a great shelf-stable, quick, versatile bachelor staple. I was just shocked at how crappy the stuff I tried was, and figured the crew here would have suggestions, which you did.

[Pharmacology]

You should try Brown Rice pasta.

It's wonderful

[thebaldguy]

To be honest, we kind of like the newer whole wheat pastas. They're different, but I have to admit that I like it.

[280plus]

Ok, now that we're all pretty much done BS-ing you we'll admit we lied, wheat pasta really is just a granola hippie myth and should be consumed by noone except hippies.

[BridgeRunner]

As soon as the weather warms back up, I'll be back on my "ride a lot and eat whatever the hell I want" diet.  It's only good for 2-3 pounds of weight loss a week, but then I've only got about 20 to lose.  There's something satisfying about riding to Sonic and having the heart rate monitor show that you've balanced out the entire greasy meal.

Huh.  As soon as it warms up a little I'll be going back on the "run a lot and eat whatever the I want" as I train for summer races.  Experience hath shown that this is good for absolutely zero weight loss.  Maybe this year will be different, I dunno.  Didn't lose a single pound in the four months I trained for a race last fall.  But I was also studying for the bar, and escaping the house to a coffeeshop with 400+ calorie beverages a couple times a week. 

[Boomhauer]

Sure; whatever the store across town carries.  Just leave your car in the garage and run or bike over there for it.

As soon as the weather warms back up, I'll be back on my "ride a lot and eat whatever the hell I want" diet.  It's only good for 2-3 pounds of weight loss a week, but then I've only got about 20 to lose.  There's something satisfying about riding to Sonic and having the heart rate monitor show that you've balanced out the entire greasy meal.

Back when I worked at Wal-Mart in the Produce section, I ate like I usually do (horribly...fried foods and Coke, baby!) I still lost 30 lbs in 4 months...simply from throwing freight (every day the cooler and backroom area got filled, and every day we downstacked the crates, usually 50lbs each, off the pallets), unloading trucks of all types, and pulling crates from the cooler and racks to stock the sales floor...it was generally an 8 hour workout every day. The guys unloading trucks in the un air conditioned loading dock worked even harder, and the guys pushing carts worked insanely hard (they wore pedometers and figured they were walking 10-15 miles a day) and pushing the carts manually in addition to using the machine. I know that when I helped them a few times I felt like I was going to die...would be great training if one was going into the military...

[gunsmith]

I like all kinds of pasta.

[BridgeRunner]

I like all kinds of pasta.

That sounds like a challenge. 

Back when my mother first discovered her wheat allergy, she got her hands on some truly horrible corn pasta.  It was horrible.  Horrible.  Did I mention it was horrible?  This was about twenty years ago and I still remember the horribleness of that pasta experiment.  I don't think I was even talked into eating any and still have the memory seared into my brain.

That's a terrible thing to do to corn.  And that's saying a lot, considering the things we do to corn.

[Balog]

That's a terrible thing to do to corn.  And that's saying a lot, considering the things we do to corn.

If my sig line wasn't so crowded this'd be in there...