Easy Pasta Alfredo

As promised, here is the alfredo sauce recipe I made for myself last weekend.  I had a craving and did some recipe searching.  One from Campbell's ended up being the healthiest one, so I used it as the basis for my own recipe.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder OR 1 clove fresh garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 3/4 cups chicken broth (possibly replace with vegetable broth to make vegetarian)

1/3 cup plain yogurt

6 tablespoons grated Parmesan Cheese (or any blend you prefer)

Half and Half

Preparation and Cooking Method:

Stir the flour, garlic powder, and black pepper in a medium sauce pan.  Add the broth and stir until the mixture is smooth.  Cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture boils and thickens.  Stir the yogurt and the parmesan cheese in the sauce pan and blend well, whisk if needed.  Add some half and half.  Once well blended, cool mixture for a couple minutes to thicken.  Then pour over your favorite kind of pasta, cooked of course, and top with more parmesan and other toppings of your choice.

My Recommendations:

The original recipe didn't call for the half and half.  It became a bit of a weird color so I just added some until I got it to be the white color I wanted.  It also helped make the mixture less thick.  I didn't measure, so I apologize.  I would say I used maybe 1/4-1/2 cup at the most.  The recipe recommended mixing the sauce and pasta together before serving.  I didn't do this but you can if you like.  If you want to make it vegetarian, I suppose vegetable broth could work in place of chicken broth, but I haven't tried it.

The Verdict:

This meal came out AWESOME!  I had a craving for alfredo and this quenched it for sure.  This recipe made enough for my meal and a few more.  If you need to feed the family, I might recommend doubling.   It was very quick and easy to cook as well.  This is a very versatile recipe, which I topped with steamed broccoli and diced tomatoes.  You could also top with chicken, steak, shrimp, or anything else you like on your alfredo!

Click here for printable PDF page!

Pot Roast with Fruit & Chipotle Sauce (Slow Cooker)

Here it is, FINALLY!  Things got a little busier than I anticipated the last few days, on top of forgetting my usb drive every day, with my blog files on it, made it difficult to find time to make this post!  This recipe is from the Essential Slow Cooker magazine I wrote about a couple posts ago.  It is one of many that I want to make.

Ingredients:

1 3 lb boneless beef chuck pot roast 

Garlic Pepper Seasoning 

1 7 oz package dried mixed fruit 

½ cup water 

1 tablespoon finely chopped chipotle pepper in adobo sauce 

2 teaspoons cornstarch 

1 tablespoon cold water 

Preparation and Cooking:

Trim fat from meat. Sprinkle with garlic pepper seasoning. Place in slow cooker, 3 ½ qt or larger. Add dried fruit, ½ cup of water, and chipotle pepper. Cover and cook on low for 10-11 hours or high for 

5-5 ½ hours. Transfer meat and fruit to a serving platter and cover to keep warm.

For sauce, pour cooking liquid into a bowl or glass measuring cup, skim fat. In a medium saucepan, combine cornstarch and the cold water. Stir in cooking liquid. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more.

Serve meat (and fruit if desired) with sauce.

My recommendations:

Not many here.  I didn't change too much about the recipe.  The book recommended serving the fruit with the meat.  I decided against it because it looked pretty gross after sitting in the crock pot for 10 hours!  Also, the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce comes in a can and can be found in the Goya section of the grocery store.  If you don't have it, I'd say just replace with a tablespoon of finely chopped jalapeno pepper.

The Verdict:

This one was Hubby's choice, and he raved about it through the whole meal, and didn't complain once about eating the left overs all week. I enjoyed it as well, but left the left overs for the hubby :)  The chipotle pepper gives it a pretty good kick!  For sides I served peas and red skin mashed potatoes with fresh minced garlic mixed in, as well as jumbo flaky biscuits.

Click here for printable PDF recipe page!