Okay, so since Chicken Alfredo has always been a favorite meal of mine, like something to order on the rare occasion of a nice dinner out, it was one of the first favorites I managed to develop a THM-friendly recipe for.  All I could find were recipes that had non-traditional ingredients (like cream cheese?!) in them and I wanted the REAL THING.  So a foodie friend hooked me up with a real deal version from a chef he knows, which I tried and tweaked it to my own preferences.  My family loves it and we often eat it once a week.  It is about the fastest thing to throw together, if you play your cards right and have diced chicken breast on hand in your freezer.

1/2 cup butter (I use salted.  If you use unsalted, you'll probably need to season with salt)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream  (I like the organic one from Trader Joe's, which is the only one I can find without carageenan)
1 1/2 cups Parmesan (The grated Parmesano Reggiano from Costco is fabulous for this.  Do NOT use a green can...)
1 close garlic (or equivalent.  I use garlic juice)
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
2 cups cooked, diced chicken breast
1 box Dreamfields Rotini

Place butter and cream in saucepan and heat until butter is melted and mixture is bubbling.  Add garlic and pepper.  Slowly add the parmesan, stirring frequently so it doesn't melt into a clump or stick on the bottom of the pan.  Basically, at this point, the sauce is done.  You can simmer it for a while, stirring the cheese back off the bottom of the pan, if you want it to cook down a bit.  Taste to check for seasoning and you're ready to go.

Cook the box of pasta according to package directions, but shave 2 minutes off the cooking time.  It doesn't need as much time as indicated, and the glycemic impact will be even more favorable.  Drain pasta well and place back into pan, pouring over the sauce and tossing in the chicken breast.

DISCUSSION:

If you're a veggie lover and/or need to add more bulk to this dish, you can add non-starchy veggies of any kind.  My husband likes me to steam half a pound of one of the frozen "stir-fry veggies" mixes I keep on hand to his.  He really likes it, but is alone in his preference, as the lone non-veggie-hater in the family.

Because of the need to keep carbs, even specially prepared ones, to a proper portion in an S meal, this is how I serve it at my house:  A serving of cooked Dreamfields pasta is one cup.  So I steam hubby's veggies, add 1/2 cup chicken, 1 cup pasta, and top with the sauce.  I do the same thing for myself, minus the veggies.  I mix up all the rest of it and let my teenage sons divide it between the two of them.  They add a salad, if necessary.

Regarding Dreamfields Pasta:  This subject is discussed at length in the THM book.  Dreamfields was specially designed to cause the carbs to not have their normal glycemic effect on your blood sugar.  When they first came out, they put info about that on their packaging and website.  After experiencing an FDA crackdown on the claims, they have removed them, but I believe the product is what it was intended to be and that it's a good product.  It's not optimal to use frequently, and once per week is my personal max, but it's a nice option to have and it just tastes like a great regular pasta.  I'm not interested in a debate on the topic.  Everyone needs to honestly evaluate the best option for their body.  Some people wanting to keep carbs lower like to use spaghetti squash instead of pasta.  If that's your preference, go for it.

So, if you read my recent review on Trim Healthy Mama, you won't be surprised that I'm having a lot of fun trying out recipes and developing my own twists on old favorites.  You don't need to read the whole book in order to benefit, but I just want to clarify my personal position on nutrition and ways of eating, lest anyone misunderstand any of my recipes to mean that I espouse a low-fat diet or a low-carb diet.  I DO NOT.  However, I do believe that Serene and Pearl are onto something here, at least for those whose bodies are giving them indications that what they're eating and/or the way they're eating it is not working.  If you have ANY reason to suspect that your metabolism/endocrine system/liver could use some healing, then I strongly recommend that you give this "way of eating" (WOE) a try.  Doesn't mean you'll need to eat this way forever (but that would NOT be a tragedy, once you really learn the ins and outs of preparing meals this way), but using this system for a while can truly help your body do some serious healing.  Weight loss can be a sign that your body has been asking for this all along.

Anyhoo, Trim Healthy Mama (hereafter referred to as THM), is a system of separating carbs and fats, while eating as clean as you can possibly manage.  This means that you will be eating high protein, low-fat, complex carbohydrate meals, as well as low-carb meals.  You just won't be combining them.  So, when you see a recipe of either variety on this blog, you'll understand the context within which is was posted, and not think, "Has Moyne lost her mind?!  I can't BELIEVE she's promoting low-carb eating!"  I haven't and I'm not.  But even if you don't follow the whole THM plan, low-carb desserts are not a bad thing under any circumstances.  I think we can at least agree that high-carb, high-glycemic foods are tough on your body, whether the source of sweetener is natural or not.

I will post the recipes that are favorites for my family and me.  Many come from ideas that I've found in others' recipes, but then tweaked to meet my own tastes and/or personal tolerance for amount of work involved.  I've been having fun playing with some new ingredients, and I'll give you as much info as I can about them, but in some cases, I might just refer you to the THM book, rather than try to reinvent the wheel and do a better job than Serene and Pearl have done at explaining why an ingredient is a good choice for your body.  I am also planning on giving some tips I've come across (or devised myself) to help make this easier to get the hang of and incorporate into your life.

But before I start pontificating on the benefits and ins and outs of eating the THM way -- I'm going to share what I'm cooking for dinner tonight.....