Lemony Green Bean Pasta Salad

Sounds good, right?

I was perusing the Washington Post, which we subscribe to online, when I saw an article about six spring pasta salads. Being a lover of pasta, I clicked on it. The Lemony Green Bean Pasta Salad was appealing, as it features pasta, green beans, pistachios and, of course, lemon. It also calls for a whopping 5 tbsp of olive oil, in a recipe that uses 12 oz of pasta and makes 6 servings. I went straight to the Nutrition Facts and here is what I found:

Calories 360

• Fat 15 g

• Saturated Fat 2 g

• Carbohydrates 48 g

• Sodium 300 mg

• Protein 9 g

• Fiber 3 g

• Sugar 4 g

That’s 135 calories from fat, or more than 33 1/3% calories from fat, because of the olive oil. The recipe is also lower in fiber than it could be because it is made with white pasta. It has only 3 grams of fiber per serving despite containing veggies; it would have gotten 5 grams of fiber from the pasta alone and probably about 8 grams total fiber if it had used whole wheat pasta.

I will post an adapted version of this recipe tomorrow after I have had a chance to try making it!