My dear friend Su loves pasta when ever we go out we all know if pasta is on the menu she will order it without a second thought. We are not sure where her love of pasta stems from, perhaps from the numerous childhood holidays to Italy she had with her family, but she loves pasta in all its glorious shapes and sizes.

However, getting the girls together is not always easy. If its not finding a time & date to suit all of our busy lives, there is also all the fads of eating and of course one of us is always on a diet something. I have to say this is something I am not good at. If someone says to me, I cannot have something, its makes me want it more; but I have successfully dieted over the years myself, from a size 16 to size 10 at one stage and now I love food but I balance everything.

Now, back to my girly night in!  I was thinking ‘pasta’, but Annette, Tracy & Maxine were all watching their figures in readyness for their Hot June holidays abroad, so I put together a great tasting luxious pasta dish without the calories which we could all enjoy with white wine spritzers, perfect!

Try my Luxury Ham & Mushroom Penne Pasta Dish:

You will need: 25g mixed dried mushrooms, 200g fresh penne pasta (remember there are alternative pastas if you are wheat intolerant too), 2 tsp low fat polyunsaturated margarine, 100g fresh oyster mushrooms (torn), 1 large garlic clove finely chopped, low fat cooking spray, 2 tblsp Sherry, 75g half fat creme fraiche, 100g virtually fat free fromage frais, 4 sliced of quality lean cooked gammon ham chopped, 15g parmesan cheese & snipped fresh chives to finish.

First place your dried mushrooms in a bowl and cover with warm water, leave for around 30 minutes, then remove mushrroms sqeeze out excess water and chop roughly & reserve the liquid on one side. Cook the pasta according to instructions and drain. Heat a large frying pan & add margarine, add the dried mushrooms & saute for 2 minutes then add the fresh mushrooms & garlic and spray with low fat spray. Saute these for 5 minutes to soften & then add the sherry, letting the liquid bubble for around 30 seconds. Then adjust to a low heat & stir in the creme fraiche, fromage frais & about 4 tblsp of the mushroom liquid then add the drained cooked pasta, chopped ham, parmesan & chives and mix together season to taste and divide between 2 plates. (Double etc the ingredients above accordingly if cooking for more than 2 people)

Whats your latest fad eating plan or have you a friend on a strange eating plan for a special occasion, why not send me a message and tell us all about it, its great to hear from you all.