Green Veggie Alfredo Pasta

Garret's mom used to make him fettuccine Alfredo a lot growing up, so in our earlier dating years, when eating on a college budget, I tried making him fettuccine Alfredo for the first time. My mom taught me to make Alfredo sauce from a roux and needless to say, the fettuccine turned out more like paste than pasta. He ate it anyway, but has since taught me "his" way of making the sauce, which is unexpectedly from cream cheese. I haven't tried making it the roux way since; this is great and much easier.


















Ingredients:
two handfuls green beans, trimmed
one bunch spinach
2 - 4 servings noodle pasta
1 tsp canola butter
8 ounces light cream cheese
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 T milk
1/4 c Parmesan cheese, plus some for topping
1/8 cup toasted pepitas
1/8 cup manzanilla olives
salt and pepper and red pepper flakes to taste

Directions:
Bring a two pots of water to a boil. In one, blanche the green beans and set them aside, then steam the spinach in the same pot and set aside also. Boil pasta according to directions.

In the meantime, add butter, garlic and cream cheese to a sauce pan. Stirring with a whisk, add milk and Parmesan and stir until smooth. You may need to add more milk as it cooks.

Drain pasta and toss with sauce, vegetables and remaining ingredients.

I have been using Trader Joe's Multigrain Pasta with Flax. It has a really nice taste and texture as well as adding extra nutrients and protein. I'm usually not a fan of wheat pasta, but this stuff is GOOD!