Women Lie: Size Does Matter

I am a firm believer in the fact that portion size is important if you want to live a healthy lifestyle. With all of the “super-sized” products out there it’s easy to lose track of what the “standard” portion size should be.

My grandparents. Look at the amount of pasta in their dishes.

 
Research has shown that people tend to eat more when the food is given to them on larger plates/containers. In other words a 4 ounce piece of chicken would be plenty of food if served on a 6 inch plate but when served on an 8 inch plate people tend to think it's not enough.

I’m not sure why this is but I’ve seen it happen plenty of times with our dinner guests. More so with pasta than anything else. The size and shape of the pasta affect how it’s perceived by people. Since 2 ounces of rigatoni looks a lot less than 2 ounces of angel hair our guests always expect more. So I plan accordingly when I know certain people are coming to dinner.

Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes, Sausage and Veggies

 

4 oz. pasta
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced
2 roasted tomatoes, chopped
1 Italian sausage crumbled.
Crushed red pepper to taste

Boil water in a large pot and cook pasta until al dente.

In the meantime heat olive oil in a large pan, add sausage. Cook until sausage is browned.  Add garlic and crushed red pepper.  Cook until soft. Add bell pepper and mushrooms sauté until softened. Mix in roasted tomatoes.

Season with salt and pepper.

Drain pasta and reserve some cooking liquid.

Pour pasta and reserved liquid into pan with veggies. Toss to coat.