Lighten Up!

Ah the infamous alfredo sauce..packed to the gills with the heart stopping stuff we all love. Most alfredo sauces have at least one stick of butter and two cups of cream. Tack on all the cheese and you are definately not talking about a figure friendly dish! Because of its high fat and calorie content, its not a regular at our house. I would be stricken with guilt for weeks over the event and my arteries would punish me as well. BUT when you get that craving for something it just will not go away until the need is met and I had that this morning. I considered making the original roman fat laden sauce for my dinner tonight-then I looked at my gutter and thought again. I made a low fat alfredo a few years ago-in fact it was my second blog entry in my old blog. The picture was fuzzy, the lighting was bad and the pasta was meh too. Here it is!

I knew it could be better so I whipped this up. The original recipe is from cooking light and I have to say they did a damn fine job of reinventing the alfredo sauce. Its thick and creamy and cheesy just like you expect it to be, but minus most of the guilt. I don't think that anyone would notice the difference between the real deal and this version. It has only ONE Tablespoon of butter and uses low fat milk. The key to the sauce is the cheese you use.
Maybe its the guilt I was craving because after dinner I still wanted a fried ice cream blast from Sonic :)

Fettuccine Alfredo w/Chicken!
Adapted from Cooking Light

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
8 oz package of sliced bella mushrooms-sauteed (optional)
2 T Cream cheese
9 oz of fresh pasta (or the dried-we like the fresh)
1 1/3 cups of 1% milk
1 T of butter
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 cup of parmasan cheese-grated
salt
fresh cracked pepper
1 T all purpose flour
chopped parsley for garnish

For the chicken: preheat oven to 375. Lay breasts on a baking sheet. Drizzle each with olive oil and then salt and pepper. Roast them in the oven for about 35 minutes.
Meanwhile...
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in flour. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk. Cook 6 minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Add 1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, cream cheese, and salt, stirring with a whisk until cheeses melt. Toss sauce with hot pasta. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and chopped parsley. Garnish with black pepper, if desired. Serve immediately.
***I also reserved a cup or so of the pasta water to use after I mixed the pasta in to make the sauce silky. Start slow-I think I used 1/4 cup all together