Lightened Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

While my husband consistently mentions his love for alfredo sauce, I tend to avoid it because of the high fat, high calorie content.  Still anytime we go grocery shopping together and hit the pasta aisle, he points out those alfredo jars....  So when I saw this recipe on Pinterest, I couldn't pass it up!

Recipe: (from celebrations.com)
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, grilled and cut into chunks
2 cups roasted broccoli florets (I loosely followed this recipe.)
8 ounces fettuccine*
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic (I didn't measure - just minced 2 cloves)
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup skim milk
1/4 teaspoon pepper
a pinch of nutmeg
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

*I wanted to use higher protein pasta, and Barilla Plus doesn't have fettuccine noodles, so I used penne.

In a pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta.  Drain and set aside.  (I had my broccoli roasting while the pasta was cooking.)

In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat.  Add garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until golden and fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.

Whisk in the flour until smooth, about 2 minutes.  Gradually whisk in the chicken broth, yogurt, milk, pepper, and nutmeg.  Bring to a boil and simmer until thickened, about 3 minutes.

Stir in Parmesan cheese.

Add cooked chicken and broccoli to the sauce mixture, followed by cooked pasta and toss to combine.

Serve with additional Parmesan cheese if desired.

Verdict:
While this didn't knock our socks off, it was definitely a decent 'staple' sort of meal.  Not special or flavorful enough for company but tasty and nutritious enough for a regular dinner.  It wasn't anywhere near as 'saucy' or cheesy as the picture on the original website, but I did add more pasta without really increasing the sauce amount (wanted to stretch it for two dinners).

The meal itself comes together fairly quickly, but there are a few things to keep in mind before storing this in your 'easy' category.

Timing is important.  Don't want the pasta getting cold while you make the sauce... Or the sauce sitting around waiting for the pasta to finish...  For me, it worked out quite well to start cooking the pasta (11 minutes) and roasting the broccoli (12 minutes) at about the same time and starting the sauce right away.  The sauce preparation finished about 1 minute before they were done, so I could toss everything in the pot and voila - dinner was ready!

Some planning ahead is involved.  I didn't want to have to fire up the grill on top of everything else, so I had Alex cook the chicken breasts for this meal at the same time as these burgers two nights ago.

While the recipe does come together fairly quickly, it is also very hands on once you get everything cooking.  There is literally no downtime to set the table, make a salad, pour drinks etc.  So either delegate those tasks or get them started while waiting for the water to boil (which in my case is a very, very long time).

This meal generates an unfortunate amount of dishes.  While it is definitely worth making again, I won't be making this until I have a kitchen big enough for more than one person to be doing dishes at a time.  To cut down on dishes, you could quite frankly cook the broccoli with the pasta the last minute or two.  I didn't find that roasting the broccoli made an unforgettable difference in the taste of the dish.