Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Tips about cream sauce!

Just like everybody else I love a nice cream sauce or fettucini but when we were wanting that and trying to lose weight it didn't really match up! Until I came up with a few good tips in order to eat those foods as well as keep my waist happy! :) So here and some tips and a recipe for fettucini! :)

Tips:
  • Use canned evaporated skim milk to thicken sauces and give them that creamy effect without all the fat and calories!
  • If you don't want to spend the money on canned milk you can just use skim (fat free) milk and add a couple tbsps of cornstarch to it. As well as this makes a great base to start a mac and cheese sauce! :)
  • If you want to use the thickened milk sauce and just make a basic fettucini you can stir in some whipped cream cheese and/or 1 wedge of Laughing Cow swiss cheese. It only adds 35 calories and lots of great creamy flavor! :)

Here is a great recipe I came up with for corn fettucini! I can't wait to make this in the summer with fresh corn but for now canned works just fine! :) Enjoy! :)

Ingredients:

1 can corn (not cream style)

4 cloves of garlic

3 tbsp whipped cream cheese ( I love Weight Watcher brand)

Parmesan cheese

1 tsp lemon juice

black pepper

1/2 can of fat free evaporated skim milk

linguine whole wheat noodles

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small baking dish line the bottom with foil. Drain the canned corn. Place 3/4 of the can in the baking dish and slice garlic in slivers. Put them in the baking dish. Spray with cooking spray and lightly salt and pepper.

Roast for about 20 minutes checking after 10 minutes to make sure not burning. The corn will turn a darker color and the garlic will be very sweet and fragrant.

When there is about 10 minutes left of the roasting process put half a box of the whole wheat noodles in salted boiling water. Cook until al dente.

In a small food processor or a blender put the evaporated skim milk, lemon juice, and cream cheese and blend until smooth. Season with lots of black pepper! :)

Drain the pasta and save about 1 cup of the starchy pasta water. Put noodles back into hot pot. Pour sauce in the blender over the pasta. Toss vigorously for a few minutes until all the pasta is covered. If it is a little tight add some of that starchy cooking liquid to help loosen it up! Serve hot and shave some parm over the top! Enjoy! :)

I hope that this recipe helps with the cravings of some yummy creamy pasta! :) If you try it please commet me and let me know what you think! :)

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Hello World! :)

Well I guess now I am a blogger! :) This is my first post so give me some time to figure this all out and hopefully one day it will be fully put together and I will hopefully post a couple times a week! :) I wanted to start this blog to share with anybody and everybody my recipes and tips on how to cook, bake, and prep so you don't spend all day in the kitchen. I love to make everything from scratch when possible so a lot of my recipes will be that way. It is a healthier way to live because then you know exactly what is in the food you are eating as well as the quality of ingredients you get to control. Plus it is a lot cheaper! I have recently lost 42 pounds and am still trying to lose 8 more, with a few changes in the way I cook I was successful at the weight lose. I want to share with everybody how to change a few things and become healthier! Don't get me wrong though I love my bacon and other things that people think are off limits for trying to be healthier, but it's not! :) Everything in moderation is the best way to go about this life change! So what are you waiting on? Get going and start cooking! :)