Tortellini with "Skinny Alfredo Sauce"

Tonight was a lazy night.  We were low on groceries, and needed to use the Trader Joe's three cheese tortellini before it expired.  The standard garlic tomato sauce didn't sound good, so we looked for a 'healthy' alfredo sauce.  I haven't ever made alfredo before, but the normal recipes are atrocious!  A whole stick of butter, cream cheese, heavy cream... Yikes.  This recipe uses olive oil, chicken broth, cheese and skim milk! Wooooo!  AND IT WAS DELICIOUS!  So good.  Perfect for a chilly night.  Recipe is from the "Gimme some Oven" blog (link below).  She made it with fettucine, but it was delicious with tortellini, too.  We also added chopped ham to ours.  Adding broccoli would have been great if we had some!

• olive oil (a healthier fat)
• fresh garlic (a must!!)
• flour (to thicken)
• chicken broth (my favorite — more flavorful than milk; you can also sub in veggie stock)
• low-fat milk (you can use any milk, even soy)
• Parmesan cheese (the fresher, the more flavorful)

INGREDIENTS:

• 12 ounces fettuccine (or any pasta shape)
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• 3 Tbsp. flour
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup low-fat milk (I used 1%)
• 3/4 cup freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• (optional topping: chopped fresh parsley)

DIRECTIONS:

Cook pasta al dente according to package directions, in generously salted water.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and saute one minute, stirring occasionally, until fragrant. Sprinkle with flour, and stir to combine. Saute for an additional minute to cook the flour, stirring occasionally.

Slowly add chicken broth, whisking to combine until smooth. Whisk in milk, and bring the mixture to a simmer. Let cook for an additional minute until thickened, then stir in Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper until the cheese melted. Reduce heat to medium-low until pasta reaches al dente.

Drain pasta, then immediately add pasta to the saute pan with alfredo sauce. Toss to combine. Serve topped with chopped fresh parsley if desired.

Cast Iron Deep Dish Pizza!

With so many wedding gifts, we love trying recipes to use all of our new kitchen 'stuff'!  Future posts will include my beloved Paderno spiralizer (zucchini pasta here I come!), Kitchen Aid mixer, etc.  But today I will focus on the Lodge Cast Iron pan that we received.  We love using it for eggs, hash browns, sausage, steaks, veggies, etc.   We haven't made a deep dish pizza ourselves yet, but really wanted to try it... Because... they're... delicious!

Here is the recipe- I adapted it from the 'A Beautiful Mess' blog- 
http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2013/03/deep-dish-cast-iron-pizza.html

Instead of using BBQ sauce (which I hate), we used regular pizza sauce.  I also added yummy vegetables.  I sauteed portabello mushrooms, green peppers, red onion, and garlic together in a pan... This makes the pizza SO GOOD.

Crust: I made it with my Kitchen Aid with the dough hook attachment and it was so easy!
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (one package) 
a generous pinch of sugar (I used brown sugar)
1 1/8 cups warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt

In a small bowl stir together the water, sugar and yeast. Allow this to sit and foam up (aka activate) for 10 minutes. Slowly add the flour (a half cup at a time) into the mixture.  Let the mixer do all of the work, or turn out onto a floured surface and knead until the dough becomes elastic-like (5-6 minutes by hand, less if you use a mixture). Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover and allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

The recipe shows using cheese sticks in the side- this looks delish but I didn't have any. 

Add pizza sauce, and then 1/3 cup of mozza.  Then add the veggies, then the meat (I used pepperoni).  Then top with tons of cheese.  We used mozzarella and some pepperjack cheese.  Bake at 400 degrees for around 25 minutes.  Then get yourself a glass of wine and set up some House of Cards on the TV (that's what we did).  

Bon appetit!