The night before a triathlon, my husband loves to have a big bowl of pasta. Hmm… a protein packed pasta dish the day before I HAD to go grocery shopping (I was down to eating pb&j’s for breakfast again) seemed impossible. In fact, I considered calling for take-out. Seriously. I had no chicken, no jarred spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce for making my own, and only 1/2 of a box of rigatoni pasta. Thank goodness it was whole wheat! I was… how do you say… in a pickle.
I dug to the back of the fridge and found two things that inspired this recipe. (I shouldn’t even call it that. A recipe? I don’t even have measurements for the ingredients!) I found a jar of Alfredo sauce that had about 1/4-1/3 cup left and 1/3 of a container of low fat cottage cheese. The cottage cheese was leftover from a delicious veggie lasagna that I have yet to post… stay tuned for it. It’s really delicious!
The cottage cheese was a wild card but it worked out great. It melted into the Alfredo sauce and added the thickness and richness I was looking for, along with added protein!
Anyway, I basically just threw a bunch of ingredients together and tasted as I went along, adding a dash of this and that, until it was perfected. I you find yourself in a culinary pickle, don’t panic. Just throw some stuff together and see what happens. You might be surprised what you can come up with.
Shrimp and Bacon Alfredo
Servings: 2
Time: 20 minutes
Level: Easy
Turkey bacon, cooked and crumbles
Shrimp, cooked and peeled
Frozen peas, thawed
Rigatoni pasta, cooked and drained
Cottage cheese
Alfredo pasta sauce
Italian seasoning
Black pepper
Garlic powder
Salt
Mix all ingredients together in a pot over medium heat until warmed throughout. Play with the ingredient amounts until you get the right consistency, texture, and taste you want. Yum!
Pantry Chef 