Guiltless Alfredo Sauce

This recipe comes Our Best Bites and is used with the Baked Chicken-Bacon Alfredo. I copied this recipe directly from the website, so any humor or confusion comes from the fun ladies there. Enjoy!

2 C low-fat milk
1/3 C (3 oz) low fat cream cheese
2 T flour
1 t salt
1 T butter
3 garlic cloves
1 C grated Parmesan cheese

Toss the milk, cream cheese, flour, and salt in a blender. Process until smooth and set aside.
In a non-stick sauce pan, melt butter on med-high heat and add garlic. Stand above the pan (but not close enough to scald your face) and inhale. Ahhh…butter and garlic. Okay, now get cooking again. Let the garlic saute for about 30 seconds, you don’t want to burn it. It should be nice and bubbly.
Then add milk mixture to the pan. Stir constantly for about 3 or 4 minutes or until it just comes to a simmer. Keep stirring and let it cook for a few minutes more. It should be much thicker now.
When it’s nice and thickened remove the pan from the heat. Add the cheese, stir it up and then cover immediately. Let stand for at least 10 minutes before using. It will continue to thicken upon standing.
Also, if you have leftovers in the fridge, the sauce will thicken almost into a solid. Just re-heat and add a little milk and it will be back to normal again.

Baked Chicken-Bacon Alfredo

This recipe comes from Our Best Bites. If you love artichokes, this is super yummy! Steve made a special request to have this weekly...I think maybe every-other-week will work.

8 oz. Penne or Bow-tie Pasta
1 recipe Guiltless Alfredo Sauce (or 1 16 oz. jar will work*)
2 cups Grilled Chicken breast (about 2 breasts)
6 oz. (1/2 a package) cooked bacon, chopped
1 14 oz. Marinated Artichoke Hearts, drained and chopped
1/2 cup chopped Green Onions
1 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat oven to 350. Cook pasta according to directions. While pasta is cooking, prepare Guiltless Alfredo Sauce. When pasta is cooked, drain and add to sauce. Toss with chicken, bacon, artichoke hearts, green onions and 1/2 cup cheese. Transfer to 8x8 baking dish** and cover with remaining cheese. Cover with foil and bake for about 20 min.

*I used the jar sauce because I had one in my pantry I needed to use and I didn't have time to make the sauce. I don't know what the home-made tastes like, but this dish was delishes with the jar sauce.

**The recipe says to use an 8x8 baking dish. When I was ready to put it in the dish, it seemed like way to much for that small of a dish. I put it into a larger dish and it was perfect. This makes a lot (the leftovers were just as yummy) so be prepared to use a bigger dish.

Mexican Lasagna from Amy

TIME: Prep: 15 min. Bake: 1 hour
Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef
1 can (16 ounces) fat-free refried beans
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
9 uncooked lasagna noodles
1 jar (16 ounces) salsa
2 cups water
2 cups (16 ounces) reduced-fat sour cream
1 can (2-1/4 ounces) sliced ripe olives, drained
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
Directions:
In a nonstick skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Add the refried beans, oregano, cumin and garlic powder; heat through. Place three noodles in a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray; cover with half of the meat mixture. Repeat layers. Top with remaining noodles. Combine salsa and water; pour over noodles. Cover and bake at 350° for 60-70 minutes or until noodles are tender. Spread with sour cream. Sprinkle with olives, cheese and onions. Yield: 9 servings.

Manicotti with Cheese

14 pieces (8 oz) Manicotti pasta
1 3/4 cups Ricotta Cheese
2 cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1/4 tsp. Black Pepper
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
2 Tbsp. chopped Parsley
1/2 tsp. salt
1 28oz. jar Spaghetti Sauce (with meat or sausage)**

* Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Cool in a single layer on foil. Heat oven to 350. In large bowl, stir together cheeses, parsley, salt and pepper. Spoon (or pipe, using a plastic bag and cut one corner off) into cooled pasta tubes. Spread a thick layer of sauce on bottom of baking dish. Arrange filled pasta in single layer over sauce. Pour remaining sauce over pasta. Cover with foil and bake 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake 15 min. longer.

**I have also substituted Alfredo sauce (or another jarred white Italian type sauce) and added cubed or shredded chicken instead of the spaghetti sauce.

Pepperoni Pasta Salad from Jenni

8 ounce package of tricolor pasta
2 ½ ounce can of sliced, pitted olives (drained)
Cherry tomotaoes (about 15 cut in half)
1 cup chopped fresh broccoli
Pepperoni slices (about 15)
4 ounces cubed cheddar cheese
1 cup creamy Italian dressing

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Rinse with cold water; drain well. Put the pasta in a large bowl and add all the other ingredients. Stir together gently until mixed. Cover and chill for 2 hours before serving. Makes 10-12 servings.

Speedy Chicken Stir-Fry

8 oz. angel hair pasta
2 cups broccoli florets (or you can use other veggies on hand)
1 lb. boneless chicken breast, cut into strips
1/2 cup Kraft Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing***
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. each ground ginger, garlic powder, crushed red pepper
1/3 cup chopped dry roasted peanuts

Cook pasta as directed on package, adding broccoli to the boiling water the last 3 min. of the pasta cooking time.
Meanwhile, cook chicken in a nonstick skillet for 6-8 min. or until cooked through. Stir in dressing, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and red pepper; cook 1 min. stirring occasionally.
Drain pasta mixture; place in a large bowl. Add chicken mixture; mix lightly.

Makes 4-2 cup servings.

***In the Sunday paper, there is a coupon for $1.50/1 Kraft dressing. Walmart sells this dressing for $1. 58. So if you use a coupon, you can get it for only $0.08 (not bad for a dressing that you may not use often, or even if you do, still not bad).