Low point creamy deliciousness! Pasta Primavera

This is what I made for myself for dinner last night. YUM! I had some veggies lying about that needed to get used, and it went great together. If I had realized I had broccoli hiding back there I woulda used that, too!

Note that a cup of whole grain pasta is a point less than regular, but I am just not in the swing of it yet and didn't have whole grain fettuccine in the cupboard.

I was out of fresh garlic, and that is the only reason I used garlic salt and the little amount of pesto. So to drop a WW point, omit the pesto and garlic salt and just cook fresh garlic with the onion in the first step. You could also spice this up with some crushed red pepper flakes, or earthier with a little sage. Possibilities are endless!


Pasta Primavera in a Light Cream Sauce
WW Points: 9

a handful of each (or whatever veggies you have on hand):
white onion - thickly diced
zucchini - quartered
green pepper - thickly diced
cremini mushrooms - quartered
1 tsp olive oil (1pt)
1/8 cup vegetable broth
2 Tbsp heavy cream (3pts)
2 tsp store bought pesto (1pt)
1 cup fettuccine (4pts)
garlic salt
salt & pepper


1)Start water boiling for the fettuccine. Continue with the steps below, throwing noodles in when water comes to a boil. By the time your ingredients are finished, the pasta should be about done as well.

2) Over medium heat, heat olive oil in pan, then toss in onion and blanche, about a minute (if you have fresh garlic, add it now as well)

3) Toss in zucchini next and cook for about a minute

4) Throw the rest of the veggies and a few dashes of garlic salt in and toss to coat, cooking about 1 minute

5) Pour in the veggie broth and cover, cook about 2 minutes

6) Take off lid, turn up heat to medium high and cook off most of the liquid.

7) Add cream and pesto, turn immediately to low and stir frequently until it thickens slightly. Note: It will NOT be thick like an alfredo, it will be much saucier, but should thick enough to stick to the veggies and noddles without being too heavy.

8) Drain pasta and toss with veggies and sauce.

This was way yummier than I expected, and served to fulfill a craving I was having for a little bit of a creamy sauce. It was plenty filling, and hubby was looking longingly at my meal and telling me how great it smelled. Oh well! You don't want to eat vegetarian when I do, so you lose! Seriously, though, I could have doubled the batch and thrown in some leftover chicken breast for him had we had any, and it would have only added a few more points for his meal. But I didn't need it, I was plenty satisfied as it was!

I can't wait until summer when there is some fresh asparagus and yellow squash running around to throw into this dish! And if I had red pepper instead of green to toss in, the colors would also have been really amazing.
(PS the pic above is not mine, but is a good representation of what you can expect to enjoy! If you want to make the recipe to go with the picture, it is a Cooking Light recipe and you can find it at http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1611725 By their nutrition information, it is only 7 points, though I am not certain how...)