Carrot Pasta With Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce

When I started out trying to come up with another veggie pasta and sauce I knew I wanted something other than spaghetti squash. My Spaghetti Squash "Mac & Cheese" and my Singapore Noodles using spaghetti squash both turned out quite well so knew I wanted to step it up a bit and try another veggie instead of squash. I had made Zucchini Pasta before, and it was okay, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for.

I had seen a recipe for a sauce that used potato as a thickener so I figured, why not cauliflower?

It worked out *amazing*! I took a traditional alfredo sauce and made some changes to veggie-it-up.

I decided to use carrots as my "noodles" because I wanted a bright color to help show off the sauce. 

I was very pleasantly surprised at the nutritional count of this dish.

According to Myfitnesspal - for 1/2 the entire recipe -

224 calories, 34 carbs, 7 fat, and 11 protein.

Yeah...that's not a mistake.

I checked it twice.

Trust me...this tastes as rich and creamy as regular alfredo and pasta with half the calories and less than half the fat!!

Have I convinced you to try it yet?

Carrot Pasta With Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients

Sauce

1/2 cup cauliflower, cooked

1/4 cup 1% milk

1/2 Tbsp no fat cream cheese

1/2 tsp cornstarch

pinch sea salt

1 tsp butter

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbsp dried chives

1 tsp dried parsley

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, shredded & divided

Pasta

8 large carrots

Directions

Place the cooked cauliflower (make sure it is VERY well cooked, soft is good!), milk, cream cheese, cornstarch, and salt into a food processor or blender. Process until smooth. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add in garlic and cook and stir for a minute.

Add in cauliflower mixture and the chives and parsley. Stir continually until mixture comes to a boil and thickens, about 2 - 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 of the Parmesan cheese. Stir until smooth. Cover and set aside to keep warm.

To make "pasta' - Using a vegetable peeler, peel off outer (dirty) layer of carrot and discard. Then, using the peeler, continue to peel carrot in thin strips until you reach the core of the carrot. (See photo below - the thin carrot has been peeled to the core)

You can continue to use the core or discard it and move on to the next carrot. (I don't like the core. I find it too tough but that's just a personal preference.)

Peel all carrots.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Drop in carrot "noodles". Boil for 2 - 3 minutes. It only takes a very short time to cook. You do not want to overcook them and get them mushy. I would taste one at 2 minutes to see if it is ready.

When "el dente" drain carrots in a strainer.

Serve with sauce. (You can either serve sauce on top or gently toss with the sauce in the pan)

Top each serving with 1 Tbsp of the remaining Parmesan cheese.

Mmmmm.....pasta-y.

If you are going to be reheating the sauce later then you may want to stir in a spoonful of milk as it tends to get quite thick when it sits.

The recipe is supposed to be 2 servings BUT you could get away with eating the entire thing for only 448 calories.  

New favorite healthy dish?

I think so.

Be sure to visit Hungry Little Girl and Adorned From Above and The Mandatory Mooch and Carole's Chatter and The Chicken Chicks for some fantastic links!