Creamy Alfredo and Veggies

Nothing says "comfort food" quite like a nice, big pile of Fettuccine Alfredo!  I grew up loving the stuff, and my mom made the BEST alfredo sauce on Earth!  These days, I don't get to have it too often for a few reasons: 1) it's cream-based and 2) it's not even CLOSE to being figure friendly!!  Now, I'd like to tell you that I solved both of those problems with this dish, but the truth of the matter is...this isn't even CLOSE to being a low-fat meal!! (I think that's one of the qualifiers for "comfort food" isn't it?  Has to be high in fat!)  Here's what I did do though:  I eliminated all the dairy-based fat, used heart-healthy extra virgin olive oil instead of butter, and eliminated all the cheese that typically goes into this meal...so as you're eating this, just know, that although it tastes every bit as good as a "normal" alfredo sauce...you are doing your body a HUGE favor by eating this alternative (because trust me...I've made the "normal" sauce before, and you would just die if you knew all the fatty ingredients that it entails!)

Over medium heat, slowly heat up:

4 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 T. garlic powder

-If you heat the garlic up too quickly, it will burn and turn bitter, so do it slowly, for like 5 minutes to incorporate flavors.

-Add:

1 qt of MimicCreme (The only place I've seen this is at health food stores...it's a soy-free, dairy-free cream substitute made from almonds and cashews...it can be used as a cream substitute wherever cream is needed.)

-Slowly bring to a boil over medium heat.  While that's heating up, mix together:

6 t. corn starch
6 t. warm water

-When the cream mixture starts to bubble, slowly whisk in the corn starch mixture and lower heat once it starts to thicken.  (lower to low...just to clarify!)

-Squeeze the juice from 1 lemon into the cream mixture (if I had to guess, I'd say 2-3 tablespoons)...whisk in.

-Add:

2 t. sea salt
plenty of fresh pepper
1 t. dried oregano
1 t. dried basil
1 t. nutritional yeast

-Note:  from the lemon juice to all of the spices, these can all be added to accommodate your taste...however, let it simmer for a while to let all of the flavors blend together.  I actually let my sauce heat on low for about 20 minutes before I tasted it.

-Another note:  if you feel like your sauce is too thick, add a splash of unsweetened almond milk, or even a little dry white wine.

-Boil some water, and add whatever noodle you like.  Traditionally a Fettuccine noodle is used (long like spaghetti, but wide and flat), but honestly, I like it best with gluten-free bow tie or penne pasta.  (For this particular dish, I used Garlic Parsley Ribbons). 

-Saute your favorite veggies in a little extra virgin olive oil and season with a little salt, pepper, oregano, basil, and garlic powder, until you like the way they taste on their own...aside from the sauce.  Make sure you don't over-cook your veggies...you want them to still be a little firm, so that you don't have mushy veggies with mushy noodles...you want good texture contrast!  Also, it's always a good idea to choose veggies that have good color variety, for two reasons:  1) visual appeal and 2) when you eat a wide variety of colors in your fruits and veggies, you get a wide variety of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants from them!  Win, win!

-Note:  if you wanted to add some "fake chicken" to the dish, that would be good too!

-To assemble you can do this two different ways.  The first is to just toss everything together and serve it, or, if you're wanting a pretty presentation, toss the noodles in the sauce, and serve the veggies over top...either way, it tastes great and you're going to love it!  Enjoy!!

-Oh yeah, just in case you were wondering, this makes around 4 c. sauce.  If that's too much, freeze the rest and save it for later!