Guiltless Alfredo Sauce

2 cups low-fat milk
1/3 c. (3 oz) low-fat cream cheese
2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp butter
3 garlic cloves, minced (I used 2)
1 cup freshly grated Paremsan cheese (I used the in-the-can powder stuff, and it does make it SLIGHTLY lumpy, but totally worked)

In a blender, blend the milk, cream cheese, flour, and salt until smooth and set aside. In a large saucepan melt butter on medium-high heat and add the garlic. Saute garlic for about 30 seconds. Add the milk mixture to the pan, stir constantly until it comes to a simmer (about 3-4 min). Keep stirring and let it cook for a few more minutes until it thickens (another 3-4 min). Once the sauce has thickened, remove from heat. Whisk the cheese into the sauce and immediately cover the pan. Let sit for 10 minutes and then serve over noodles or with chicken or whatever you desire! (I could just eat it PLAIN!)

Price Guesstimate: $3-ish

Steph's Comments: Oh my goodness this is DELICIOUS! I could NOT believe that is was a lower-fat Alfredo sauce because it was SO good. I served it with chicken and linguini - yum. I got this recipe from Our Best Bites: Mormon Moms in the Kitchen, which is currently my obsession. I am LOVING it!

Great Pizza Marinara Sauce

1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste

1 c. water

1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

salt to taste (but don't forget it!)

ground black pepper to taste

1/2 Tbsp. dried oregano

1/2 Tbsp. dried basil

1/2 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed

Mix all the ingredients, bring to a boil, and then let simmer. It tastes better if made ahead of time and has time to let the flavors mix together. 

Price Guesstimate: $0.50-0.75? 

Steph's Comments: We went to dinner last week at my brother & sister-in-law's place and they served us pizza. It was AMAZING. This is the marinara sauce they used. The crust was also SO YUMMY and I'll put that up next. Yum, yum, yum. 

Chicken Alfredo Pizza

One Pizza Crust (See my homemade pizza crust recipe here, or use your own!)

Alfredo Sauce (In a can, or for a CHEAPER way, see a homemade version below)

Cooked, shredded chicken

Canned or fresh mushrooms (opt.)

Cooked, chopped broccoli (opt.)

Cooked, chopped onions (opt.)

Cooked, chopped green peppers (opt)

Parmesan or Mozarrella Cheese (but Cheddar works too! Or a mixture!)

Cook pizza crust. While crust is cooking, saute veggies. Once pizza crust is done, spread sauce, add toppings, cover with cheese of choice. Put under broiler until bubbly

Sauce:

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c. cream (or milk works fine too)

3/4 c. parmesan cheese (fresh obviously is better, but canned is cheaper!)

salt and pepper to taste

Heat butter and cream/milk on medium heat in a pan until boiling. Turn heat to low and simmer (stirring frequently) for 6 months, or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat, add cheese and salt and pepper.

Steph's Comments: This isn't the cheapest of recipes out there, but it's a cheap-er version of a yummy meal! And if you use milk instead of cream, and canned Parmesan cheese instead of fresh, it's really not too expensive! My sister, Rachel, gave me this recipe. She doesn't like mushrooms or onions or green peppers, so I added that part! :) I've found that with making pizza that it's WAY better to cook the toppings under the broiler. If you time it just right, you can get that almost burnt look - you know, where the cheese is just perfectly done. Yum. Also, I put a lot of Parmesan cheese on top, and it seemed to dry out the pizza a bit, so beware of that. The sauce is once I got from my Betty Crocker cookbook. It's a great Alfredo sauce, but it was a little thick for my taste for pizza, so afterwards I thinned it with quite a bit of milk - I'm sure that's not the "proper" way to do it, but it worked! :)