The Cooking Light recipe is just pasta, sauce, and bacon. I love vegetables so I decided to add lots of vegetables, take out the bacon, and add chicken instead. First, I started off by boiling a pot of water for the pasta. While the water boiled I preheated a pan with about 2 tbsp of olive oil in it. While it was heating, I chopped spinach, bell peppers, onions, and garlic. Once the olive oil was ready (you can tell because it has a rippling effect, or you can test it out by sprinkling a little water into the pan if the olive oil crackles its ready) I threw all the vegetables in the pan and let them wilt down (about 10 minutes)
Once they were wilted take them out of the pan and set them aside.
Add a little bit more olive oil to the pan and sauté the garlic. Make sure not to burn the garlic or it will become very bitter and not tasty whatsoever. Once the garlic is sautéed add 1 tbsp flour and stir. Basically what you are doing is creating a rue to help thicken the sauce. You want to cook the flour so that it will act as a thickening agent and you won't taste it.
Once the flour is cooked (about 4 minutes) gradually add 1 cup of fat free milk. Make sure to whisk the garlic and flour as you add the sauce so that it will declump.
Let the sauce sit for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally. While the sauce is heating through add some whole wheat pasta to the boiling water.
Gradually add 2/3 cup of Parmesan cheese to the sauce mixture. Make sure the sauce in on low heat and whisk the cheese and sauce together.
Next, combine all of the ingredients into the sauce pan. My chicken was precooked so I just tossed it in at the end to get warmed through!
Let them pasta and sauce sit for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Once the sauce has thickened and coated the food it is time to serve! Add any salt, pepper, seasonings, you would like!
A little more Parmesan for a garnish along with some fresh basil!
This recipe is definitely a healthy twist on an old favorite!
Once they were wilted take them out of the pan and set them aside.
Add a little bit more olive oil to the pan and sauté the garlic. Make sure not to burn the garlic or it will become very bitter and not tasty whatsoever. Once the garlic is sautéed add 1 tbsp flour and stir. Basically what you are doing is creating a rue to help thicken the sauce. You want to cook the flour so that it will act as a thickening agent and you won't taste it. 
Once the flour is cooked (about 4 minutes) gradually add 1 cup of fat free milk. Make sure to whisk the garlic and flour as you add the sauce so that it will declump. 
Let the sauce sit for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally. While the sauce is heating through add some whole wheat pasta to the boiling water.
Gradually add 2/3 cup of Parmesan cheese to the sauce mixture. Make sure the sauce in on low heat and whisk the cheese and sauce together.
Next, combine all of the ingredients into the sauce pan. My chicken was precooked so I just tossed it in at the end to get warmed through! 
Let them pasta and sauce sit for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Once the sauce has thickened and coated the food it is time to serve! Add any salt, pepper, seasonings, you would like!
A little more Parmesan for a garnish along with some fresh basil!TAHHH DAHH!
This recipe is definitely a healthy twist on an old favorite! 
this looks amazing!!
ReplyDeleteIt was really good! super simple too.
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