Love in the Kitchen - making fast, healthy, homegrown meals you'll enjoy

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Chasing the Perfect Recipe

Six years ago today, we had our wedding rehearsal. We had a beautiful day for it, and everything went smoothly. I really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere after all the stress of pre-wedding errands!

We had our rehearsal dinner at a local Italian restaurant, Filippi's Pizza Grotto. They have the absolute best fettucine alfredo and really incredible pizza.

I'm half Italian and I love pasta. My new (Weight Watchers) lifestyle makes it hard for me to eat pasta covered in a cream/butter/cheese sauce... at least more than a bite or two. So I have set out to create an alfredo sauce that tastes like and has the texture of real alfredo sauce, but without all the fat and calories.

Here's a classic original recipe -

1/2 c. butter
1 c. Parmesan cheese, grated
1 c. heavy cream
Melt butter in saucepan; add cream and cheese. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly. Do Not Boil. Serve over hot fettuccine noodles. Serves 4.

This is about 15 WW points - without counting the pasta!

I've tried several variations of light sauce. Something is always a bit off - wrong texture, not quite the right flavor, sometimes both. I think, however, after a number of tries, I may have a decent (2 WW pt) recipe.


1 c. fat-free evaporated milk
1 c. fat-free milk
4 oz. fat-free cream cheese
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Stir milks and cream cheese together in a saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the cream cheese is melted. Do not boil! Add the grated Parmesan cheese and stir until incorporated - do not boil! Serve over fresh fettucine noodles (pts. not included).

The keys to this recipe are 1) the method - do not boil! and 2) using high quality and very flavorful Parmesan cheese.

Hope you try this and enjoy it. I'm also working on lightening up some other decadent recipes - keep an eye out!

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