Shrimp Alfredo

I've been so scared to make my own alfredo. I was inspired by my fantastic mother in law, because I've never had an alfredo like hers. It's amazing.

Anyway, I can't put it off any longer. I'm only cooking for me, so I'm making some shrimp alfredo! You don't have to do shrimp. Chicken or steak would surely work just fine.

Now, recipe is a funny word. There's not really one for me to work off of. My mother in law doesn't have her recipe, but gave me some concepts to work with. We'll see how this goes!

First, boil the noodles and get that part out of the way. Of course, since these are fettucine noodles, they stick together. You can eliminate most, if not all, with olive oil and diligence.

While those are going, go ahead and cook your shrimp in advance. I'm sprinkling them with pepper and garlic.

Drain the noodles when they're al dente, and give them a toss to separate any still stuck.

Now for the fun part! You need about a cup of butter (which is 2 sticks-ish),

and a pint of heavy cream. I was incredibly delighted to find that my local co-op has organic heavy cream! Put them together in the pan you did the shrimp/chicken/steak in to keep those flavors, and put the pan on low until the butter's melted.

You'll also want to toss the noodles once in a while. I'm finding that they try to re-stick together.

Once it's all melted, sprinkle in a bit of spices. The basic salt, pepper, and some garlic powder. This is to taste, I did a teaspoon of salt, about a tablespoon of pepper, and about a tablespoon of garlic powder.

Then the cheese begins! I got this wonderful jar of romano-parmesan blend while I was at the store for some basics. You can get romano and parmesan however you want, but it comes out to about 6 oz. combined. Sprinkle the cheese in slowly as you stir, and turn the stove up to medium.

As soon as all of the cheese has melted in, it's time to pour it into the noodles! I also added in a bit more pepper and some Italian Seasoning here at the last minute.

After stirring it up a bit, add some additional parmesan. I got this from the co-op, but any parmesan would do, even the dried stuff if you want. It's about 2 average handfuls that you add in at this point, and then stir it in. This gives it a different texture than just slimy creamy noodles. Some people like that, but I was sold on the different texture when my mother in law made it for us.

Then it's time to serve up!

For the dreaded health facts....
If you're eating alfredo, I'd hope you understand that it's not "low" anything. It's an indulgence, and we all deserve a guiltless indulgence from time to time.
But if you must, we'll assume a cup of noodles and 1/4 cup of sauce, and assuming shrimp.
750 calories, 69g fat, 21.9 carbs, 12.2g protein.
WW Points Plus: 21

So alfredo's not a diet food. Who knew?! At least you can keep track, and that's best.
It's worth it. So yummy. Of course, I ate my one bowl (that I shared with my husband) and the rest got put away. It's going to take me days to go through all of that! I hope you have more people to share it with than I do!