The BEST Low Fat Fettuccine Alfredo

So, growing up there is one dish that my mama used to make my brother and I that we just couldn't get enough of and it was her fettuccine alfredo (actually hers was tortellini alfredo) and I mean we would scrape our bowls clean and my brother (who was the pickiest eater as a kid) would always ask for seconds, which never happened with any other dish.  So, this is a great one for moms and kids alike.  Every time I make it, it brings me back to my childhood.  Thanks mom for having such a great staple recipe that I still love today and will someday make for my kiddos, too!  Without further ado, the easiest and yummiest fettuccine alfredo recipe...

Your 5 Sauce Ingredients:

(of course I have lightened up my mama's version)

skim or 2% milk, smart balance butter, 2-4 cloves of garlic, 1/3 less fat cream cheese, 100% grated parm, noodles of your choice - tortellini is fantastic with this as well, I chose spinach fettuccine for this time.

Start your pasta and cook while making the sauce.

For the Sauce:

Only crush the garlic and saute it in the pan on med-low heat with 1 tablespoon of your choice of butter for a couple of minutes until it smells fragrant. Be careful not to brown the butter or burn the garlic.

(you want to get the flavor of the garlic infused into the butter as opposed to chunks of it in your sauce)

You can remove the garlic cloves (sometimes I keep them in their and fish them out at the end, but I don't mind if I have a few garlic chunks, depends on if you are a garlic lover or not!)

and then dump in 8oz of reduced fat cream cheese (NOT fat-free) and stir until melted, like above.

Once the cream cheese is all melty, pour in 1 cup of your reduced fat milk and 1/2 cup or so of grated parmesan cheese (with no fillers in it!) - the parm acts as a thickener and binds the sauce together, you can add more later if need be.

Stir and continue to heat on low (at least 5 minutes) until the sauce is thick and smooth, like above.

Pour over cooked and drained noodles and DIG IN!

The sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.  If it is too thick add more milk, if it is too thin add more parmesan cheese, until the desired thickness is achieved.  The longer you cook it, the thicker it gets.  Eat while HOT, once it gets cold it will thicken up on you.