Skinny Creamy Fettuccine Alfredo

Now that the weather is getting cooler and the grill has seen it's last meal, its time to break out the comfort foods. One of my all time favorite meals is fettuccine Alfredo. I love going out to dinner on a cold night to the local Italian restaurant and ordering up some chicken fettuccine Alfredo and a glass of wine and just indulge. But let's be realistic. One meal out can run upwards of 1,200 calories! All that heavy cream, sizzling butter, and melting cheese can really take a chunk out of your daily calorie allowance.

The other night when I was having a massive craving for that that creamy goodness, I decided to make it myself. Now let me tell you, I have never even attempted to make Alfredo before the other night. For some reason it intimidated me. But being that I had such a strong craving, I figured why the heck not! and I made it.

To mine and my husbands disbelief it was actually better than our local Italian place and Olive Garden! It was so thick and creamy and buttery. But heres the kicker, it's a fraction of the calories! Which means I can eat more, which is always a plus. 

For this recipe I added chicken, because I feel a meal like this needs some sort of protein. You can add chicken, shrimp, scallops, lobster, the list is endless! And this recipe takes longer to cook the pasta then to make the sauce. 

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 15 min

Total: 20 min

Serves: 4 

Ingredients

8oz Fettuccine pasta

1 lb of meat (chicken, shrimp, scallops, ect)

3 Tbs unsalted butter

2 Tablespoons all-pourpose flour

1 1/2 cup of 1% milk

1/4 cup half & half

1/4 Cup grated or shredded parmesan cheese

3oz light/fat free cream cheese

2 tablespoons of fresh parsley (or dried) minced

1/2 tbs garlic powder

Salt/Pepper to taste

How To Cook:

1. Start the pasta water going and add the pasta when it's boiling - this will take the longest amount of time during this process.

2. In a large pot (I love my dutch oven for this kind of cooking) add a tablespoon of butter on Med heat. When it's melted, add your protein and cook until cooked through. Once cooked, remove from pan and set aside.

3. In the same pan, on med/low heat, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Once butter has melted add the 2 tablespoons of flour and whisk until it's completely combined.

4. Slowly whisk in the milk. Whisk constantly until combined.

5. Whisk in the cream and garlic powder.

6. Whisk in the cream cheese and grated parmesan cheese. You will want to whisk for 1-2 minutes constantly for the cheeses to melt.

** at this point you may be thinking that the sauce its extremely too thin. Have no fear, it will thicken!

7.Once it has started to thicken, add the protein back in to the sauce and stir in the parsley (leaving a pinch for decoration is desired).

8. Add salt/pepper to taste.

9. When the pasta is done, before straining, take some pasta straight out of the water and place in the sauce. The water on the pasta will help thin the sauce a little (since it will be very thick). Then strain the rest of the pasta and mix it in with the sauce.

Enjoy!