If you’re like me, you crave the creamy comfort of a great pasta dish with Alfredo sauce. Being Italian, this was one of my favorite foods growing up. However, it’s not so healthy. This spin on a comfort food is a simple and healthy recipe that is a great substitute for Alfredo sauce. It’s a creamy sauce without all the guilt! Plus, you’re getting extra vegetables in your diet without really noticing it.
Creamy Cauliflower Sauce with Chicken and Whole Grain Pasta
(5 Servings, with leftovers)
Creamy Cauliflower Sauce
- 1 Head of Cauliflower
- 3 Cloves of Garlic
- Milk (Skim, 1%, or 2%)
- Salt
Chop the cauliflower head into florets. Put the florets into a pot with a pinch of salt and cover with water. Cover the pot and let the cauliflower boil until fork tender. After the cauliflower becomes soft and fork tender, drain the pot and put the cooked florets in a food processor. Add 3 cloves of garlic and pulse. Stream about a cup of milk into the processor until the mixture becomes smooth and creamy. More milk can be added to reach desired thickness. Add salt to taste.
Whole Grain Pasta (This part you can substitute with any store-bought, whole-grain pasta).
- 6 Eggs
- 3 ½ cups of whole grain flower
- ¼ cup of water
Combine the ingredients and knead the dough. If using a KitchenAid pasta attachment, divide the dough into 8 equal parts. Feed each part into the pasta attachment until it is nice and thin. I used a setting of 4 to get the desired thickness for my pasta. Then use the fettuccini cutter to get pasta to the desired shape. After, boil a pot of water with a pinch of salt and teaspoon of olive oil. Boil pasta for about 5 minutes, until al dente.
Grilled Chicken Marinade
- 6 cloves of Garlic, minced
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
- Pepper, to taste
- 4 Chicken Breasts
Combine all ingredients in bowl and let chicken sit in marinade for at least an hour up to overnight.
Creamy Cauliflower Sauce Step By Step
Like I said, this is a very simple recipe. These are virtually all the ingredients you need.
Florets are chopped and covered with water. Boil in salted water.
Wait until the florets can have a fork easily slide through them.
Drain the florets from the water and put the cauliflower in a food processor along with 5 whole garlic cloves. If you don’t like garlic that much, add fewer cloves. I added 5 because I love garlic and its heart healthy! While pureeing, pour in milk until creamy. If you don’t have a food processor, a simple potato masher also works well. The sauce is done!
This is a base sauce, meaning you can add whatever other things you like into it. If you would like to add more ingredients to the sauce go for it! Place the sauce in a deep pan and add however many more delicious things you can think of! I added mushrooms in mine. Some nice additions to it could be peas, broccoli, onions and other vegetables. Cook for a few more minutes.
Pasta Step By Step
This pasta is also simple and delicious. I love fresh pasta but if you don’t have time to make whole-wheat pasta, no problem! There are plenty of different kinds of dried whole-wheat pasta sold in all grocery stores.
Like I said, very simple. Virtually only three ingredients needed. Combine these ingredients and follow the KitchenAid instructions manual to feed the dough into fettuccini strips. If you don’t have a KitchenAid pasta attachment, no worries. Simply roll the dough out very thin and cut the pasta into thin strips. Hang the pasta to dry for a little bit after it is cut. I hung mine for about 5 minutes (on a coat hanger!)
Add pasta to boiling, salted water. Make sure the water has a little bit of Olive Oil in it to keep the pasta from sticking together!
Drain pasta and add it to the creamy cauliflower sauce.
Grilled Lemon Chicken Step by Step
Combine all ingredients in a shallow dish along with 4 chicken breasts and let it marinade from 1 hour up to over night. I let mine marinade for about an hour since I had to get dinner on the table! I usually tenderize my chicken with a meat hammer to make it softer and to get it to an even thickness so it will also cook evenly.
Grill until chicken is firm and juices run clear.
Slice chicken and put on top of the pasta. Add some chopped parsley for color and voila! A simple, healthy spin on a great comfort food.