COTTAGE CHEESE ALFREDO PASTA SAUCE | quick, healthy dinner recipe!

I'm gonna show you how to make a creamy Alfredo sauce in your blender using cottage cheese in place of cream or butter. It takes minutes to make and is an easy, healthy, protein-rich dinner idea that is much lighter than traditional Alfredo and absolutely delicious. Mm, mm, mm. Now, this cottage cheese Alfredo makes enough sauce for eight ounces of pasta. So that's a half a pound of pasta. If you wanted to do an entire pound of pasta, just double the recipe. So to get started, I have a large pot of salted water coming up to a boil, and this is gonna be for the pasta. Now, you can use any type or shape of pasta that you prefer or that you have on hand. My kids love when I make this with a traditional white spaghetti or a whole grain or a brown rice spaghetti, but today I'm gonna make it with a chickpea pasta. And I like to use the chickpea pasta because it offers an additional 11 grams of protein per serving, so it really boosts the total protein content of the meal, which, as I've shared with you in the past, is a bit of a priority for myself right now. But again, all pastas would work, so use what you love. Okay, so while the water is coming to a boil, I'm gonna make the sauce. Now, I'm gonna do this in my blender, but you could also do this in a food processor. It literally takes two minutes. I'm starting with one cup of cottage cheese. Now, I'm using a low-fat cottage cheese, but you could use a no-fat cottage cheese or a full-fat cottage cheese. Of course, the more fat the cottage cheese has, the richer and creamier your alfredo sauce is going to be. Then I'm adding in a half a cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, which is nice and nutty and salty, along with a half a cup of milk. Now, I'm using an organic 2% milk here, but if you wanted the sauce to be richer and creamier, you could use a full-fat milk. And if you wanted the sauce to have even more protein, you could buy one of those protein-enhanced milks like A Fair Life. Okay, then for seasonings, I'm adding a half a teaspoon of Italian seasoning and then a quarter teaspoon each of garlic powder, sea salt, and black pepper. I'm gonna pop my lid on and give this a blend, and I'm just gonna let it go until everything comes together and it's nice and rich and creamy, but it's still pourable. Okay, so I'm gonna set this aside. My water is at a boil, so I'm gonna add my pasta. Now, you just wanna cook your pasta according to the box instructions, although do note that I have found that a lot of the alternative pastas, like the one I'm using here today, which is made from chickpeas, cook a lot faster than what the box says. So the box says to allow it to cook for six to eight minutes when I find it's done in really 3 1⁄2 to four minutes. You'll also notice when working with a chickpea or lentil pasta that there's some foam that rises to the top of the pot. It's totally fine. You can skim it off, or you could just leave it there and drain it when you drain the pasta. Once I've got my pasta right where I want it, I'm gonna drain it out, and then I'm gonna return it back into that warm pot over a very, very, very low heat, as low as it goes. Then we're just gonna pour the pasta sauce right over the pasta, and the warmth of the pot and the noodles is gonna heat the sauce through along with that low heat coming from the stovetop. Okay, so I'm gonna stir this, get everything well incorporated, and once it's heated through, which it takes really a minute or two tops, then it's ready to serve up. Now, depending on the eater, this would make anywhere between two to four servings. If you were to break it into four servings, each serving would pack in 23 grams of protein and five grams of fiber, and if you wanted to boost the meal a little bit more, you could add some shredded rotisserie chicken to really bump that protein to 30 grams, or maybe put your favorite steamed or roasted veggies in there as well. Now, I love to serve this with an extra sprinkle of Parmesan cheese over the top, some fresh basil from my garden, and a little bit of red pepper flake just to bring a kick of heat. It is so rich and creamy, and it has so much flavor. I mean, this truly is an easy way to level up traditional Alfredo sauce. I would call this comfort food at its best, and the best, best part is, it is all done from soup to nuts in less than 15 minutes. So good. So I'm really excited for you to give this one a try, and if you enjoy easy, healthy recipes just like this, make sure to take a moment to like the video, subscribe to the channel, and hit that notification bell so you never miss a new recipe. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Dani Spees, and I'll see you back here next time with some more Clean and Deliciousness. Cheers.