Low-Cal Fettuccine Alfredo

For Christmas my sweet mom gave me a subscription to the food network magazine. This past week I received my first issue and it's all about italian food. My fav! One of my new goals this year is to cook more often. Yes, I love to cook, but I'm not very good at it and it's hard to cook for one person. I cooked Salmon saturday night and because class was cancelled yesterday due to the crazy weather I was going stir crazy so I decided to find something out of the food net work magazine. I am also trying to eat healthy, so I was looking for something healthy, but delicious! And I found it... Low-Cal Fettuccine Alfredo. It is in the March issue of food network magazine. It takes 25 minutes to make and is 490 calories per serving. This recipe makes 4 servings (I divided it in half last night since I was just cooking for me). And it's delicious! Here you go!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of unsalted butter

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

1 cup low-fat milk

kosher salt

2 tablespoons Neufchatel or low-fat cream cheese

3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more for topping

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

12 ounces of fresh fettuccine (I recommend using wheat pasta)

Freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Make the sauce: melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and lemon zest and cook until the garlic is slightly soft, about 1 minute. Add in the flour and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and 3/4 teaspoon salt and cook, whisking constantly, until just thickened, about 1 minute. Stir in the chopped parsley.

2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fettuccine and cook until al dente, 2 to 3 minutes. Reserve 1 cup cooking water, then drain the pasta and return to the pot.

3. Add the sauce and 1/4 cup of the reserved cooking water to the pasta and gently toss to combine, adding more cooking water as needed to loosen, Season with salt. Divide among bowls and top with parmesan and pepper.

Per Serving: Calories 490; Fat 15g (Saturated 8g): Cholesterol 48 mg: Sodium 734 mg; Carbohydrate 66 g; Fiber 3 g; Protein 20 g.

Hope you enjoy! Stay warm!

-Morgan