Pasta with Alfredo sauce – great flavor! But, wow, can it leave you feeling full awfully fast, which is mostly due to the heavy cream called for in the traditional recipe. Just like the stove cooked pasta with lighter Alfredo sauce, this very quick and easy microwave cooked version of the same recipe is lighter because it substitutes heavy cream with evaporated milk – with no sacrifice in flavor.

Tablespoon for tablespoon (the circled areas below show that the serving size is twice the serving size of heavy cream), heavy cream has more than twice the calories and five times the fat as evaporated milk.

Here’s what I use to make one serving of microwave cooked pasta with lighter Alfredo sauce. All you need are cooked pasta, evaporated milk and grated Parmesan cheese. The ground black pepper, balsamic vinegar and garlic powder are optional but add a good shot of flavor.

Click this link or any picture on this page for a complete, easy-to-follow step-by-step picture book recipe.