Yes- this is posted before my welcome. I didn’t mean for that to happen but that’s the way WordPress does things :.( I copied my other posts from Blogger to here today (3-25-12) and I wanted to make sure my welcome was here too. Sorry for any confusion!

NOTE: I started out on Blogspot because people I know have blogs there. I have found that site to be infinitely frustrating to compose on and, having had yet another fight with said site today, I have decided to give WordPress a go. I do apologize for any confusion this may cause but I really am enjoying blogging (even though I don’t get to do as much as I’d like to right now) so I had to do something to make this easier. So here goes…

Today I am rather proud of myself. Today I am going to share one of my super-secret recipes with you, my dear readers. It really is a wrench, giving it to you at all. I’m still getting used to this whole recipe sharing thing and sometimes I revert back to my old habits. See, up until I started this blog I guarded my recipes jealously. I had a password protected file on my computer that held some of my best ones. The rest I kept in my head, never to be shared with anyone. In fact, the first time I made my meatloaf for Ron I made him leave the kitchen and go play with the girls in their room so he wouldn’t see what went into it. Never mind the fact that cooking hotdogs in the microwave is as advanced as he gets in the kitchen.  There is only one person in the world that I have shared any of my secret recipes with- my BFF. And you’d better believe that I swore her to secrecy before I handed those precious few recipes over. If I remember correctly I even made her promise to delete the email that contained them. But then I started to really get a passion not only for cooking and feeding people but something completely new to me. My passion started to evolve and grow into a passion for teaching people that what I do isn’t (always) magic. Just about anyone can do it. (Yes; Ratatouille is my absolute favorite movie. I tear up every time I watch it.) Now I’m left with a passion for cooking and for helping others enjoy really great food that comes from their own kitchens. Along with this change came in itch to blog- to really get myself out there. So the fact that I have this blog and am sharing my recipes and secrets is a great stride for me. Progress; not at all as scary as some make it out to be :.)

 This Alfredo sauce is not even remotely close to what you can get out of a jar at the store. Or even out of a container in the refrigerator section. Heck- it may not even be remotely close to a real Italian Alfredo sauce. But you know what? I don’t care. It’s so incredibly good that once you start eating it you won’t remember your own name let alone where the dish was supposed to have originated. The only thing that will be important to you is that you take another bite.

The ingredients are so very simple that this sauce can even be made on those very busy, you-think-you-have-no-time-to-cook nights.

Most recipes for Alfredo call for cream or at least milk. This one does not. It gets it’s creaminess from cream cheese. You can use any fat content you like. I use 1/3 less fat but use whatever your arteries can tolerate ;.) And yes- those are 6 giant cloves of garlic. This is a very garlicky dish. Feel free to cut back on it if want to but it won’t be as good. Now, after you brown your chicken your pan should look like this…

This is what the French call fonde and it will add wonderful flavor to whatever is cooked in this pan so be sure to make the sauce in the same pan as your chicken. After you cook your chicken, lower your heat to medium-low and melt your butter. Once it’s completely melted add your minced garlic and cook for about 2 minutes, until it’s very lightly browned. Then add the block of cream cheese- you can just put the whole thing in, it will be fine. You just have to keep stirring and it will melt. Once it’s melted a bit add your Parmesan. (A note on the parm: It MUST be good quality- NOT from the green can. The Parmesan is the star of this dish and has to be good quality or you might as well not bother.) So that you don’t panic, here is what this will look like:

It’s a great big, ugly mess. But it’s supposed to be. Once you’re at this point stir for a minute and then start adding your chicken broth, about 1/4 cup at a time. Stir each addition in well, using at least 1 & 3/4 cup of the broth total. It will end up looking like this:

Now add your chicken back in, season with white pepper to taste (you don’t want little black flecks in your nice, white sauce), and serve however you’d like. I served mine over spaghetti…

You could easily make this into a pizza sauce but the recipe makes a lot and it does NOT freeze. At all. In fact as it cools it gets a bit grainy because of all of the cheese. It still tastes phenomenal- it’s just not great shakes at being leftovers. If you wanted to  you could cut the recipe in half very easily. SO good, SO easy, and it makes me SO happy to share it with you!

The Recipe:

1T Olive Oil

1/2 Lb – 1 Lb Chicken Breast, diced or sliced thin (it all depends on how much chicken you want in the sauce and whether you want chunks or slices)

6 Large or 8 Regular Cloves Garlic, minced

4T Butter

8 Oz. Cream Cheese

8 Oz. Parmesan Cheese (grated or shredded- it doesn’t matter)

2 C Chicken Broth

White Pepper to Taste

The Method:

*Brown the chicken in the olive oil, removing to a bowl when done.

*In the same pan melt the butter.

*Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes or until very lightly browned.

*Add the cream cheese and stir until about half melted then add the Parmesan cheese.

*Stir until the Parmesan starts to melt.

*Add the broth- 1/4 cup at a time, stirring after each addition.

*Add at least 1 & 3/4 cups of the broth total. The whole 2 cups if you like a very thin sauce.

*Serve immediately over whatever you can dream up.