Gnocchi and pasta can both be a healthful part of your diet. Their nutritional value depends on many variables, including the ingredients with which they are made, the type of sauce you serve them with and of course the serving size.

You only need to keep and eye on the clock to cook durum wheat semolina pasta to al dente and take advantage of its toothy texture. Almost all dried pasta comes from durum semolina, a coarsely ground hard wheat flour with a high gluten content.

At its best, pasta should be al dente. When pasta is al dente, it is cooked through but still firm enough to bite. When pasta becomes overcooked, it takes on a gummy and unpleasant texture.

Baking fresh ravioli opens up a whole new world of "pasta-bilities" you don't get with dry pasta. Fresh ravioli has a chewy bite and more flavor, even though it doesn't cook to al dente.

Oodles of Noodles, which are ramen noodles packaged with a variety of seasonings and sold by Nissin Foods, provide a quick, easy and inexpensive meal. Oodles of Noodles are precooked and sold in a block, so cooking them involves nothing more than rehydrating with boiling water.

There are many reasons that you might want to cook spaghetti in a rice cooker instead of in a pot on the stove top. You may be living in a dorm or other facility without a stove. Or you might be pressed for time and may not want to spend what little time you have hovering over a saucepan waiting for the water to boil.

A traditional Italian dish, ravioli are pasta stuffed with cheese, meat or other filling and typically served with a marinara sauce. You can purchase pre-made frozen ravioli at your grocery store or you can make your own from scratch — and freeze them for later use if desired.

Homemade chow mein is an excellent main dish if you are looking for Asian flair without the saturated fat and MSG present in so many commercially prepackaged dinners.

Pasta is an enjoyable finger food for babies. Wiggly strands of spaghetti or linguine keep the baby's attention on food for longer periods because she can play with the strands as well as eat them, while larger pasta pieces like rotini or shells give her an unusual texture to savor.

Mixing milk, cheddar cheese and butter with spaghetti gives you a homemade version of macaroni and cheese that is creamy, inexpensive and simple to prepare.

Pierogies, Polish dumplings typically filled with creamy potatoes, can be boiled, baked or steamed, but pan-frying makes the pasta exterior crispy so it contrasts well with the creamy filling. The potato filling is often accompanied with other ingredients, such as cheese, onions or traditional sauerkraut.

Skip the heavy cream, but still make a thick and creamy Alfredo sauce using milk. This rich sauce, typically served with pasta, doesn't lose anything but its reputation as unhealthy when prepared using milk. Create a delicious lower-fat Alfredo sauce that can be whipped together in less than 30 minutes.