Monthly Archives: March 2018

Decadent-Tasting, Light Fettuccine Alfredo *

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This is a killer recipe for Fettuccine Alfredo!  I found it via a Cooking Light recipe.  It’s on the lighter side.  As we all know, Fettuccine Alfredo is really mouth-watering but can be a full day’s worth of calories if you’re not concerned about portion control or ingredients.  This was a wonderful balance of creaminess and fat content versus calories.  We will make this regularly!
Don’t substitute the official Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese!  It’s expensive but makes the dish!

Note: Best eaten that day as the pasta sucks up the sauce within hours.  

 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 tablespoon butter (next time I will use 1.5-2 T.; it needed a little more butter).
  • 2 small garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/3 cups 2% milk
  • 1 1/4 cups (5 oz.) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided
  • 2 tablespoons 1/3-less-fat Neufchatel cream cheese – (I used 3 tablespoons)
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 4 cups hot cooked fettuccine (8 oz. uncooked pasta)
  • 2 tsp. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
  2. Add garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently.
  3. Stir in flour.
  4. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk.
  5. Cook 6 minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring constantly.
  6. Add 1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, cream cheese, and salt, stirring with a whisk until cheeses melt.
  7. Toss sauce with hot pasta.
  8. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and chopped parsley.
  9. Garnish with more chopped fresh parsley, if desired. Serve immediately.

Avocado & Buttermilk Salad Dressing or Veggie Dip *

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This is a fantastic creamy avocado dressing or dip!  It is very simple to throw together thanks to my food processor.  Possibly by using a probiotic yogurt, by some magic, it stayed as green as the photo for a week.  Though, I’d only eat it probably the first 4 days to be safe.  I’m pretty sure I cut the garlic in half.  The fresh parsley is from our garden.  It is extremely good, has healthy fats, and not as fattening as other dressings.  One recipe amount is shown in the photo, not doubled.  Highly recommended!   

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INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 avocado halved, seeded and diced
  • 1 cup buttermilk or yogurt
  • 3 T. fresh parsley
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1/2 tsp dry mustard*
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder*
  • Salt

NOTES: I’d omit the dry mustard to make it IC safe.  Also onions are a known irritant, so please tread with caution. I can tolerate a little onion powder, personally (for now).

Directions:

  1. To make the dressing, place the avocado, buttermilk, garlic, and seasonings in a blender or food processor.
  2. Blend and your dressing is ready.

A Safe-for-IC Sample Meal: Chicken Burgers, Brown Rice, Sugar Snap Peas

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Here’s a new series for my IC blog: the sample meal.  Here we have homemade, plain chicken burgers with a piece of plain bacon on top, sugar snap peas with butter, and plain brown rice that was made with safe chicken stock (without soy or other irritant ingredients), salt, and butter.

The chicken burger/patty recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 lb. ground chicken*
  • a few dashes of coarse salt
  • Daisy pure sour cream, about 2-3 Tbsp.
  • finely chopped parsley, optional, if tolerated
  • a few tablespoons Panko crumbs, optional, if tolerated

NOTES: * My bladder is so bad now I can’t buy ground chicken in the normal, pre-packed meat section. I looked at the ingredients of the Perdue ground chicken and it actually had vinegar in it, a known IC irritant.  Are you kidding me?  I had to go to Mariano’s fresh meat section and ask the worker if it was 100% plain ground chicken, and she said yes.

In a perfect world, I’d add Panko crumbs to this recipe but I am not 100% if I can tolerate them yet.   

DIRECTIONS:  

  1. Preheat oven to 375*, or pre-heat your grill.
  2. Using your clean hands, mix the ground chicken, salt, Panko crumbs, and the sour cream in a bowl. Add optional finely chopped parsley to mix, if tolerated.
  3. It will be quite sticky.  Form into small burger patties.  Lightly push down the center of the burgers so they do not become a domed burger.
  4. Either use the grill or stovetop/oven combo:
  5. If using the grill, cook until it’s safe to eat.
  6. If using the stovetop, heat pan to medium heat.  Lightly spray some PAM, or drizzle some olive oil in your pan. Once pan is hot, gently place your chicken patties on the pan and brown on each side. Then finish in oven to thoroughly cook the insides, until they’re safe to eat.
  7. Allow the meat to rest, serve.