Lightened Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo: Frugal Food Friday

I love just about any kind of pasta, which of course are known for lots of carbs and especially creamy sauces (like most alfredo) are high in fat...but not this one!

I'm not an expert in Italian food, so I don't know what makes an alfredo "alfredo."  This isn't what I would normally have thought of as alfredo, but it's delicious and I like it better than most alfredos I've had.

Lightened Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

Taken from Cook It Light: Pasta, Rice, and Beans by Jeanne Jones, Pg. 163

Heat in large skillet (you can reduce this some to make it slightly lower calorie):
1 Tbsp margarine
1 Tbsp oil

Add the following and cook until chicken is no longer pink:
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut up
3 green onions (about ½ cup)
¼ cup shallot (one medium sized one)
3 cloves garlic

Add the following to the skillet:
1 Tbsp cornstarch (add to 2 Tbsp of the milk)
1 cup milk
½ cup (2 ounces) Romano cheese
12 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms (It says 4 cups, but 2 cups works just fine)
1 (16 oz) can of diced tomatoes, drained
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Bring to boil over high head, then reduce to medium and simmer until the sauce is slightly thickened, 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir in the following and remove from heat.
2 Tbsp dried basil
1 pound cooked fettuccine noodles

Top with grated Parmesan or Roman cheese if desired.

Makes 8 servings. Each serving contains approximately 388 calories; 43 mg cholesterol; 8 g fat; 582 mg sodium

A few notes for making this cheaper.  Romano cheese is expensive...especially at a regular grocery store.  Once we tried this recipe and decided we liked it, I buy the Romano at Costco in a big block, cut it into single recipe size pieces and freeze it in the freezer until I'm ready to make it the next time.  It's been a while since I compared prices, but last I checked the big block at Costco was about 2-3 times as expensive as from a grocery store, but was 10 times or more larger.

I also didn't know what a shallot was before making this.  It's kind of like an onion crossed with a garlic and is slightly pinkish/purplish and you find it in the produce section.  They're not really expensive since you don't need very much, but not all stores will carry it.  I don't always have it since some of the grocery store here don't carry them and I don't like making a trip to another store just for that.  When I don't have shallots, I just use a little bit of onion instead.

Wal-Mart has a great low cost whole wheat pasta option.  We're still getting used to whole wheat noodles, and if you are too, mixing half white noodles and half whole wheat noodles is a good middle ground (if they have the same cooking times.)