Guilt-Free Chicken Alfredo!

I am SO excited to share this new recipe with all of you! You read right- guilt-free! One of my participants in the nutrition class I teach mentioned she had heard of alfredo sauce made with yogurt. (as we were discussing all the wonderful uses for plain yogurt) What a great idea!
So I did some research, slightly tweaked a recipe from www.runnersworld.com, and came up with a delicious "pasta" meal.  Instead of pasta noodles, I used spaghetti squash (which can be used as a substitute for pasta noodles).  Using spaghetti squash allows you to get extra great nutrients in your meal, while acting as a pasta all at the same time!
Feel free to mix up the veggies to whatever your liking-I used asparagus, Mexican squash, zucchini, mushrooms, and spinach. 
While comparing this recipe to a regular homemade alfredo sauce, the fat and calorie differences are HUGE.  I compared this recipe to an average alfredo sauce, and here is what I came up with: Less than 300 calories/serving and ~5g fat for the yogurt chicken alfredo recipe. 
Average chicken alfredo=1015 calories/serving and 75g fat. Wow!! I'd say that's a big difference, thus making this recipe worth indulging in:-)
Lastly, I used chicken sausage, which serves as a lower-fat substitute to a pork sausage. 
If you make nothing else in this recipe, start with the sauce and make your own meal from there! (Sauce ingredients are bolded)
Hope you enjoy!!

Yogurt Chicken Veggie Alfredo

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Couple Pinches of ground nutmeg
3/4 cup low-fat, low-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt or soy yogurt
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cajun spice, optional 
1 large spaghetti squash (or brown rice noodles)

3-4 chicken sausage links, cooked and sliced into bite sized rounds

1 zucchini, sliced

1 yellow summer squash, sliced

4 asparagus spears, cut in fourths

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

3 cups spinach
DIRECTIONS
Cut spaghetti squash in half.  Place face down in glass Pyrex pan.  Add just enough water to cover the bottom of the dish.  Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 12 minutes. Set aside.

OR

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add brown rice noodles; cook according to package directions.

Saute all veggies in pan with 1 T canola oil until al dente. Set aside.

While spaghetti squash or pasta cooks, melt butter in a large nonstick pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook two minutes.

Combine cornstarch and nutmeg in a small bowl; whisk in chicken broth until smooth. Pour into saute pan, raise the heat, and bring sauce to a simmer, whisking occasionally.

Remove pan from heat.
Whisk in yogurt until smooth. Add veggies and meat.

Using a spoon, scrape seeds out of the middle of the squash and throw away.  Using a fork, scrape spaghetti squash out of it's shell, & place on plate like noodles.  Add sauce mixture to top. Season with salt and pepper and top pasta with Parmesan cheese and Cajun spice if desired. Serves four.