The Perfect Alfredo Sauce

After a bout of stomach flu by the Big Mama, we are back to our regular scheduled program with a new orginal recipe. 

I remember in college, attempting to make an Alfredo Sauce to serve to my friends.  I cooked for what seemed like hours, my kitchen was designated a desaster area by the then President Bush, (Sr., not W) and I threw it in the trash.  We got Pizza.

It seems like in the years since I've struggled to find the perfect recipe.  Some were too gloppy, some too soupy, some to cheesy and some toally without flavor.  Most were just too rich for my prone-to-acid-reflux tummy, even if they delighted my love-butter-and-cheese pallet. 

Having exahusted the supply of recipes on foodnetwork.com I struck out on my own to hopefully, keep the wonderful things that I love about traditional alfredo...the sliky texture and parmesean yumminess....with bolder, deeper flavor that can stand up to a flavored or stuffed pasta and cut a calorie or two in the process.

And boy did I hit the ball out of the park!  According to the calorie counter I found on the internet, regular Alfredo sauce is 535 calories per serving.  Coming it at only 150 Calories a serving for an Alfredo sauce that will even keep Whole Wheat pasta from tasting terrible!  And I wasn't skimpy with the servings, either.  Whoo hoo! 

I'm not sure of the cholesterol count with the real butter and real cheese, but that isn't something I track too closely.

I served it with homemade garlic bread, a Ceasar salad over whole wheat chicken and grilled onion Tortilini.  (From the deli section, I did not make them)  Thumbs up were had by all and the picky-icky Little Mouth had seconds!

Perfect Alfredo

5 T Unsalted Butter

2T Flour

1 (or 2) cloves smashed garlic

1 t lemon zest

Fresh cracked black pepper

Pinch fresh nutmeg

1 2/3 cups fat free half and half

2 cups grated parmesan cheese

Reserved pasta water to correct consistency.

Heat fat free half and half in a small sauce pan to a simmer.  Do not boil or a yucky skummy layer will form. 

Melt butter in a high sided saute pan.  Add flour and garlic, lemon zest and nutmeg and cook for 2-3 minutes on medium heat.  Do not allow to brown.   

Add warmed half and half and when that is just begining to simmer, add parmesan cheese, whisking constantly.  Cheese will thicken sauce, maybe too much.  I like a thinner sauce, so I added about 1 1/2 cups of the starchy pasta water.  Toss in your pasta of choice and serve immediately.  So, so good!

Next time I'll throw in some fresh taragon and maybe some chives.  I can't wait to try this one again~! 

Summery Lemon Shrimp Pasta

A while back I made a shrimp scampi pasta and this dish reminds me a lot of that, but without the specialty ingredients like clam juice.  This is all made with things I had on hand in the fridge or pantry.  This also makes good use of the littlest and the cheapest shrimp.  The flavors of the garlic and lemon are strong an can stand up to the frozen shrimp quite nicely. 

Summery Lemon Shrimp Pasta

8 oz pasta of your choice
12 oz cocktail shrimp (gasp, I used frozen)
2 teaspoons crushed garlic
1 large shallot
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large lemon
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth or pasta cooking liquid
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
1 tablespoon fresh chives
Salt and pepper

Vest lemon and combine with salt, pepper, garlic and 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Mix in shrimp and set aside to marinate. 

Cook pasta to al dente in salted boiling water.  I used short pasta because the Little Mouths like it better and it is easier for them to eat. 

Mince shallot and brown in a large skillet on medium high heat.  Toss in shrimp and cook through until shrimp are opaque. 

Add the wine, chicken stock or starchy cooking liquid reserved from pasta.  Using both the wine and lemon might make it a bit too sharp for many little mouths.  Prepare it to the tolerance of your little taste buds and use more cooking liquid or chicken stock to compensate for the liquid. 

Add in the drained pasta and butter and mix to combine.  Chop the fresh parsley and chives and toss just prior to serving.

Thumps up from Little Mouths and Big Mama.

Valentine's Day Macaroni and Cheese

This year, instead of purchasing presents, the Little Mouths and I made Macaroni and Cheese for gifts.  I used this recipe, inspired by Ina Garden's.  It freezes well and in the depths of a snow filled Midwestern February, our friends and family were glad to have a hot meal, ready to pop into the oven on a cold winter's night. 

Big Mama's Heart of Hearts Mac and Cheese

This recipe makes one large 9 X 13 cassarole or three smaller 8 X 8 foil cake pans.  I looked for heart shaped cake pans at the last minute, but was unable to find any.  I'll plan ahead better next year.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and put a large pot of salted water on to boil.

1 pound of your favorite small pasta
2 jars "Junior" yellow squash baby food
Kosher salt
Vegetable oil
1 quart milk
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
12 ounces Gruyere, grated (4 cups)
8 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (2 cups)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 pound fresh tomatoes (4 small)
1 1/2 cups fresh white bread crumbs (5 slices, crusts removed)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large (4-quart) pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. Add the squash.  Off the heat, add the Gruyere, Cheddar, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and stir well. Pour into a 3-quart baking dish.

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, combine them with the fresh bread crumbs, and sprinkle on the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

Fettuccini Al'Mama

Yummy, simple and takes just 10 minutes, fridge to table.  Big Mama and Little Mouths give this dish thumbs up in all areas. 

12 oz. Fettuccini
2 cups cream or half and half
5 Tablespoons butter
2 cloves of garlic
4 oz. (approximately 1 cup) Grated Parmesan Cheese
Salt and Pepper

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.  Add salt and pasta.

Melt butter in a large saute pan.  Smack the garlic cloves throw them in with the butter.  Add the cream when the butter is fully melted.  Bring to a simmer.

Reserve a cup of the pasta water and drain when it is cooked your desired tenderness. Take the garlic out of the cream mixture and discard. Dump the pasta into the cream mixture and throw the cheese in and mix.  This is kinda a pain, but it's easiest with tongs.  If it starts to glump up or get too dry, add some of the reserved pasta water.  Serve immedately in warmed bowls.  It will glop up if it allows to cool, so eat it quickly.

Lasagna, Surprise…I actually like it!

Remember in elementary school when they’d have Chef’s Surprise on the menu and we all got a little scared? Those were always the days I brought my lunch. So it has been with Lasagna night at our house. I skipped it, never made it. However, one of the little mouths had lasagna somewhere and loved it so I was on the hook. Find a recipe that I (and they) would actually enjoy.

Little Mouth, the Lasagna Lover, has a High School Musical cookbook. It has a recipe for Lasagna and she’d been chasing me around the house with it for several days. That recipe called for cottage cheese. However, the sight of those little curds floating around in sauce has always been enough to make my stomach do a flip flop, and not in a good way, like when you’d see your most recent crush across a crowded cafeteria. None of us cared for ricotta cheese in the mixture, so what to do???

I got out my handy, dandy shiny new Cuisinart and whipped the cottage cheese into submission with the steel blade and added a little crushed garlic for flavor. YUM. Reminded me of hummus and you could completely add a few herbs and eat the stuff on pita chips.

Jessica Seinfeld has a cookbook called Deceptively Delicious. I don’t make many of the recipes in there, but it did teach me that you can sneak in a little extra nutrition into everything you make. She is a wiz and weekly cooks and purees scads of fresh veggies and stealthy adds them to her family’s breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This summer when the farmers markets were everywhere, I did cook and freeze quite a bit of squash, etc. but it isn’t something I am going to be able to consistently keep up…then it hit me. There is a source of pureed veggies of every kind. One that has stringent quality and nutrient standards and is in EVERY grocery store. Baby food!

I use the large “Junior” jars and it works great. It often gives the dish a little extra flavor and more than one guest has questioned what that little extra “something” is…but I’m not telling!

Lasagna, Surprise…I actually like it!


1 pound ground beef, sausage or meat substitute
1 jar tomato sauce
1 large jar pureed carrots (Junior Baby Food)
2 cups cottage cheese (I used reduced fat)
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 cups mozzarella cheese
¼ cup grated or shredded parmesan cheese
6 large lasagna noodles or 12 of the smaller, no cook ones


If you are using regular lasagna noodles, boil water and prepare them to the package directions. Careful to not overcook or they will be mushy.

While the ground beef is browning in a saute’ pan over medium heat, put the cottage cheese in a blender or food processor with the garlic. Puree until smooth and slightly fluffy. Remove the ground beef from heat and drain well. Add 2/3’s of the tomato sauce and pureed carrots and mix.

Add the reserved 1/3 of the sauce to the bottom of a 9 X 13 baking dish (or use two square ones and freeze half) then add the first row of noodles.

Now comes the tricky part. Every last recipe I have read for lasagna calls for the rest of the ingredients to be layered in the pan. Now, I know I have the dexterity of a one armed paperhanger, but I have never managed to be able to “layer” all of these sticky ingredients. If you can…do that now. If you’re like me, mix the cottage cheese mixture, 2/3’s of the mozzarella cheese and the 2/3’s meat/sauce mixture in a big bowl and put half of that on top of the noodles. Add another row of noodles and repeat with the rest of the glop you have left in the bowl. Add another row of noodles and top those with the rest of the meat sauce followed by the rest of the mozzarella cheese and the parmesan cheese.

Cover the pan with foil. Now you can do one of three things. Freeze, Refrigerate, or cook at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to brown the cheese for 10 more minutes. If the cheese isn’t browning well, flip on the broiler for the last few minutes, but watch closely. My kids won’t touch it if it looks “burned.”

The Little Mouths are split on this one. One thumbs up, one down.

Big Mama gives this recipe thumbs up, all around for fix-ahead-ability, Cost and Taste with an honorable mention for Easy Cooking.

Easy Peasy Beef Stroganoff

I love this recipe and I've been making it in some form for 20 years. It is so versatile you can add or subtract just about anything and it still tastes great.

It is good made with beef strips or ground beef, as my kids prefer. You can add carrots, as well as mushrooms and peas or leave them all our and serve on the side or with a nice green salad. You can jazz it up by adding some fresh thyme or serve it over rice instead of noodles.

The Little Mouths give this dish two thumbs up if I make it with ground beef, and pick of the beef if I make it with pieces of beef.

Big Mama gives this recipe thumbs up, all around for Easy Cooking, Cost and Taste with an honorable mention for fix-ahead-ability.

Easy Peasy Beef Stroganoff

1 pound ground beef or beef stew meat or beef for stir fry
2 Tbsp. All purpose flour
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
2 cups beef stock
1 can cream of mushroom or cream of onion soup
1 small can of mushrooms or 8 oz. fresh mushrooms.
1 box or small bag of frozen peas (optional)
1 cup sour cream (Reduced Fat works great)
12 oz. egg noodles
Salt and Pepper

Fill a large pot with cold water and 1 teaspoon salt and put on to boil.

Dice onion and cook in Olive Oil, over medium high heat, until just starting to brown. Add minced Garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Toss beef in flour and brown on high/medium-high heat until browned on all sides. Remove beef and add fresh mushrooms and sauté until browned. If you are using canned mushrooms, just add to the beef. When the mushrooms are browned add beef back into the skillet. Deglaze the pan with beef stock and allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes to reduce. Add the can of cream soup and mix well. Allow mixture to simmer until it coats the back of your spatula and is a good consistency to stick to the noodles. If it gets too thick, don’t worry. You can add more beef stock, a little of the starchy cooking liquid from the noodles or even a bit of milk. Add the peas so they can warm through while the sauce reduces.

Stop here and freeze or keep in the refrigerator for up to three days.

While you are waiting for your sauce to reduce, prepare egg noodles to package directions. At the last minute, mix half of the sour cream into the sauce mixture.

Serve over noodles and garnish with a dollop of sour cream on top.