Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Way overdue recipe

Ok, Ok I know. I had been wowing you with weekly recipies when I first started blogging and lately there haven't been any. I realized after awhile that I had a few killer quick and easy recipes, but after I posted them all here, I quickly ran out. I didn't have the time to constantly be on the hunt for new ones and try them before posting, so my recipe segment died.

This summer while I've been stuck at home, my friend Alisha turned me on to the Food Network. I've always avoided this channel because I thought that watching other people cook was about as exciting as watching grass grow. Not to mention that Emeril guy yelling BAM all the time is just about the most annoying thing ever (well after Dr. Phil anyway). Come to find out they actually have some pretty cool shows. I love Good Eats, it's very educational even for the kids and I love the sock puppet bacteria. Challenge is another good one. I like the cake ones the best. Speaking of cake Ace of Cakes is super cool. All of their cakes are beyond amazing. During this time my oldest has been inspired to become a pastry chef. This is the same child that not long ago wanted to be a doctor. Not that there is anything wrong with wanting to be a doctor, but I think it might be more fun having her make us desert, than having her diagnosing everyone in the house with things like Scurvy. Not to mention the school is a little more in my budget.

As exciting as all this is, I bet you are thinking "Hey she promised us a recipe" about now. So here it is. One night a week or so ago, I really wanted to make a chicken pasta with alfredo sauce. The only problem being, I didn't have any ready made alfredo sauce in the house, and didn't have any heavy cream on hand to make homemade. So it was off to internet land to find an alfredo sauce recipe I could fudge with what I did have in the house. This is what I found.

Quick and Easy Alfredo Sauce

1/2 cup butter
1 (8oz) package of cream cheese
2 tsp garlic powder
2 cups milk
6 oz grated parmesan cheese
1/8 tsp ground black pepper

Melt butter in non-stick saucepan over medium heat. Add cream cheese and garlic powder, stirring with a whisk until smooth. (I seriously recommend using a silicone whisk so you don't scratch your non-stick pan. Teflon flakes are not a yummy addition to any meal. Also I'd like to note that it doesn't exactly get smooth. Once the cream cheese completely melts it looks kinda curdled. Fear not, it totally starts looking normal again in the next step.) Add milk a little at a time, whisking to smooth out lumps. Stir in parmesan and pepper. Remove from heat when sauce reaches desired consistency. Toss with hot pasta to serve.

Along with this sauce I prepared 3 cups of penne pasta, sliced 2 chicken breasts into bite size strips and sauteed in a little butter and garlic, and steamed about 2 cups of broccoli that I had chopped into bite sized pieces. When everything was ready I tossed it all together and added the sauce. Totally easy, and totally yummy. Enjoy.

0 comments: