CookSkinny: Spring Tortellini with Cream Sauce

I know I just posted today, but I wanted to skinny up another of our favorite recipes from the archives to each this week, and what better place to save the information than on the internet?! This pasta dish also uses asparagus and frozen peas, which are going into another of the meals from this week, so I am creating less food waste AND saving money by buying a smaller mix of ingredients!

We LOVE the Spring Tortellini with Cream Sauce. It's quick AND delicious. However, it's also 626 calories and 21 SMARTPOINTS. Holy cow! I'm going to see what I can do to skinny up this recipe. I'm no mastermind like Gina at SkinnyTaste, but I can do a few simple things to help this dish.

First of all, when I calculated the recipe using this tortellini, here is the nutritional info that I got:

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 4
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 502.6

• Total Fat: 22.5 g
• Cholesterol: 96.9 mg
• Sodium: 458.1 mg
• Total Carbs: 52.2 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3.3 g
• Protein: 23.8 g
• SmartPoints: 16

This is vastly different than the values that they posted! I'm not quite sure where the discrepancies are, or which one is more accurate. However, I went ahead and subbed fat-free half-and-half and compared the results:

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 4
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 417.5

• Total Fat: 11.9 g
• Cholesterol: 57.7 mg
• Sodium: 490.3 mg
• Total Carbs: 54.0 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3.3 g
• Protein: 24.0 g
• SmartPoints: 12

Using the fat-free half and half made a HUGE difference! I also tried subbing the sausage tortellini by this whole wheat kind:

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 4
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 423.4

• Total Fat: 12.5 g
• Cholesterol: 79.9 mg
• Sodium: 647.3 mg
• Total Carbs: 52.4 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3.3 g
• Protein: 27.2 g
• Smart Points: 12

So, using whole wheat pasta doesn't change the points value. The calories increased slightly, as did the fat, cholesterol, AND sodium. The carbs were reduced, and fiber surprisingly stayed the same. Protein did increase by a few grams. 

I'll be sticking to my tasty sausage tortellini, thanks :P

I will be making the recipe this week with fat-free half and half for sure! If you're wondering, we are also using a few other recipes from SkinnyTaste, other than the pesto I listed in my last post: 

Grilled Flank Steak w/ Tomatoes, Red Onion, and Balsalmic

Rosemary Chicken Salad with Avocado and Bacon

Until next time, 

Mischief (and appetite!) Managed.