Frozen pasta is a fast and convenient ingredient to have on hand for those nights when you need a healthy meal in a hurry. Serving frozen pasta provides the carbohydrates needed for energy, and depending on what tortellini or ravioli are stuffed with, can also offer a serving or two of protein.

Cooking pasta shells is a great start to a simple, nutritious meal. Pasta shell recipes include using small shells in casseroles and soups and stuffing larger ones with anything from blended cheeses to chopped vegetables and chicken, meat or seafood.

Cooking noodles in milk pulls the pasta's starch out into the liquid, thus creating a thick sauce. Add shredded cheese to elbow macaroni cooked in milk and you will create macaroni and cheese. Several creamy pasta recipes also call for elbow macaroni cooked in milk.

Serving pasta in a buffet-style setting is challenging; you need a chafing dish to keep it warm. While the chafing dish does a great job of ensuring hot pasta on demand, the constant heat can also dry the pasta out and make the pasta stick together.

Often made from wheat, pasta has been christened with the bad reputation of being a high-carb food. However, by controlling your portion size and preparing a healthy sauce to serve over it, pasta can be both healthy and fulfilling. One 2-oz.

Spaghetti and meatballs or marinara sauce is a classic American comfort food, but sometimes the pasta gets lost in the sauce.

Pasta is an amazingly varied and versatile food. Pasta dishes include spaghetti with a variety of sauces, lasagna and macaroni and cheese. Macaroni salad and other cold pasta recipes abound. Nor are you limited to wheat pasta. Rice pasta is a popular ingredient in many Asian dishes.

Jollibee spaghetti, or Filipino spaghetti, consists of a sweet, cheesy sauce with hot dogs and ground meat. Jollibee spaghetti is far sweeter than other varieties due to the addition of sweetened milk and sugar.

Garfield the Cat's perennial favorite food, deep-dish Italian lasagna, takes a lot of time to prepare. From boiling the noodles to searing the meat and combining the cheese, eggs and spinach, depending on your favorite ingredients, lasagna can take up to an hour or more to be assembled before cooking in the oven.

White Italian spaghetti sauce is commonly known by its French name, bechamel sauce, although the Italians refer to it as salsa di besciamella.

Although grain-based foods can be part of a nutritious diet, not all grain products have the same impact on hunger and satiety. Some pastas, especially varieties made from refined grains, can leave you feeling hungry soon after you eat them.

Yakisoba noodles are the starch component of a number of Asian dishes. These noodles can be incorporated into stir fry, paired with vegetables and even eaten on their own. The noodles themselves look similar to Ramen noodles and are made from wheat flour and egg.