Whole wheat pasta?

Let's not go into details, but simply say the family's trying to get a bit more grainy and a bit more fiber into the diet, and hopefully without using supplements. We're eating lots of veggies with dinner, some meat's been substituted by veggies and legumes and I think we're doing well without losing much of what we genuinely like to eat.

The newest addition to our diet recently made its premiere appearance the other night. Whole wheat pasta; 5 g fiber compared to 2g fiber/serving for regular durum dry.* We served it with a tomato sauce in which had been cooked sweet italian sausages.

Results? I don't know. I think I need another taste (tonight). It was definitely noticeable and I wasn't immediately thrilled. The texture is nearly the same as regular durum pasta but the taste was definitely ... can't quite describe it but .. more. A lot like the difference between bad white and wheat bread. Not that regular durum is anything like white bread but the comparison is about the same. Anyone else have any opinions on trying this type of pasta?

I think next we'll switch back to regular pasta and bulk up the fiber using greens and beans like Lisa's Pasta Dish (scroll to bottom of post).

*This reminds me of Nancy Silverton's concern of unbleached white versus wheat flours in breadmaking when it comes to the health benefits. She says unbleached white has fewer natural components because of the processing but is enriched with vitamins, whereas whole wheat flour contains much more of the grain, but the added components (germ, husks, etc.) are not as bioavailable and pass through. So, the two may be similar healthwise and the benefits of the switch between durum and whole wheat pasta may be moot.