Don't Sweat the Good Stuff!

,Why skip the "good" food, or feel guilty about indulging in it, when you can simply tweak things here and there and make it healthier?!
This ties into my subject from the other day, about new ideas as well.
We all know I enjoy Italian food; lasagna, parmigiana, classic spaghetti and meatballs...but one thing that I actually have to be in the mood to enjoy, is Alfredo. I quite like Alfredo sauce, but for whatever reason I'm just not as big a fan as I am of the red sauce. Lately, though it has been sounding mighty tasty. And fattening! Heavy cream, oodles of cheese, flour, butter!! Eeek!
Then....Pinterest made a timely appearance! Using cauliflower to make an Alfredo sauce. Well...that, uh....that's just brilliant! The recipe I came across was pretty comprehensive, and can be found here. I did however, make a few tweaks, to satisfy my own tastes. Please feel free to do this for yourself as well!
I used the remaining 8oz. of sweet potato pasta, leftover from my Avocado Pasta the other night. Again, you can find these, and other pastas here.

This sauce was so creamy! More so than any strictly dairy based sauces I have made before.

 

Cauliflower Alfredo
Ingredients:

16 oz. uncooked fettuccine noodles

2 heads cauliflower

6 C vegetable broth

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. butter

1 tsp salt

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 C. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 tsp. dried parsley

1 Tbsp. fresh chopped chives

1/4 C. heavy cream

1 1/2  C. starchy boiling water from pasta pot

Directions:

Chop the cauliflower. Bring the vegetable broth to a boil over medium high heat and add cauliflower. Cook until cauliflower is soft, about 15 minutes. The longer you cook it, the smoother the sauce will be.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and saute for 4-5 minutes or until soft and fragrant.

As garlic and cauliflower are cooking, bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the fettuccine according to directions on package, reserving some of the starchy water to add to the sauce later.

Transfer cauliflower to a blender with about 2 cups of the broth. You may need to do this in batches depending on the size of your blender. Add the sauteed garlic, salt, nutmeg, and black pepper and puree until very smooth, about 5 minutes. Once the mixture is moving, stream the olive oil into the blender. Add more broth or water if the mixture is too thick to move through the blender. You want it to turn through the blender easily. When puree is very smooth, transfer back to the butter/garlic skillet.

Add the cream and cook over low heat. Add the starchy pasta water (or regular water if you’re not making pasta) and allow it to warm up.

Gradually add the Parmesan cheese, waiting for each portion to melt before adding the next.

Add parsley and chives, and stir to combine.

Keep warm until ready to serve. Combine noodles and sauce in a large pot or skillet and serve immediately.

Feel free to garnish with fresh Parmesan, fresh ground black pepper, and a pinch of cayenne!

NOTE:

I like really saucy pasta!! If you do not, please cut the sauce ingredients in half.

By the way...I did technically make dinner last night, but it wasn't really anything that involves a recipe so....

1 ripe avocado

Goat cheese

Prosciutto

Slice avocado in half and remove pit. Gently slice each avocado half into 4 slivers, then scoop out of peel. Sprinkle lightly with lemon juice, and black pepper.

Place your desired amount of goat cheese in the dip of each avocado slice.

Cut each piece of prosciutto into 3rds, lengthwise. Wrap each slice of prosciutto around an avocado slice, securing the goat cheese in place. Sprinkle with chili powder.

This was an extremely tasty, but very rich dish...I couldn't quite finish my whole avocado.

Also...for future reference, this could be fantastic with herbed goat cheese...