Mondays - a time when the week is fresh, new, and FULL of healthy possibilities.

It's like a mini New Year's Day (kinda). Which is why we thought that today was just about the perfect time to try out Lidl's just-released super low-carb Fettuccine. Made from soybeans rather than being regular pasta, it has 15g of carbs - around half that of regular pasta. It's also packed with 45g of protein (standard pasta has around 5g). So that all sounds great... but what does it taste like? I tried it out - mixing it up afterwards with a little pesto, some grilled aubergine, broccoli, and tomato, along with salt and pepper seasoning, and olive oil. Here's the finished product:

1) Look and feel:

Seemed just like regular pasta. Nothing weird about it.

2) Cooking:

On the packet it says to cook for 4-6 minutes. Irish folk infamously like their pasta turned to mush (much to the horror of many al-dente respecting Italians). And lo and behold when I tried it after five minutes I thought it was waaay too tough. I left it in for around eight minutes and reckoned that was about right.

3) Prep:

As mentioned, I served with some pesto, veg, seasoning, and olive oil. It all mixed together really nicely and didn't seem any different from regular pasta.

4) Taste:

Delicious! Genuinely much nicer than expected from a low-carb, high-protein pasta alternative. The first few forkfuls didn't taste too dissimilar at all. As I progressed through the meal I definitely got more of a 'protein' aftertaste, but overall this soybean fettuccine was delish.

5) Afterwards:

I definitely felt fuller and didn't get that carb-crash that you might get following a bowl of pasta - surely only a good thing.

6) Conclusion:

Priced at €2.49 for 200g (around three or four dinner portions) this is more expensive than regular pasta, of course. But I'm a total convert and I love it. I reckon if you're looking at your carb intake and trying to get more protein into your diet, this is a really excellent product. *Here is the nutritional info at a glance too: Ingredients: Flour, soybean (100% organic soybeans) Nutrition values per 100g:  Energy (kJ/kcal) 1470/350 Fat 8 g of which saturated 1,5 g Carbohydrates 15 g of which sugars 7 g Fiber 18 g Protein 45 g Salt 0,017 g