Alfredo Pasta with brocolli and mushrooms

Here is a famous Italian dish. Olive garden which happens to be my daughters favorite restaurant serves fettuccine Alfredo chicken, a mouth watering dish. The Alfredo sauce happens to be my husbands favorite Italian sauce too. I like to cook with any kind of pasta rather than just the fettuccine especially the kids always love their pasta shapes and have so many preferences. This time I used the Halloween pasta which has all the fancy spider, jack-O-Lantern kind of shapes and she loved it.



Ingredients: Serves 4 - 6

Pasta - any kind 4 cups (fettuccine/shell/farfalle/fusilli/rotini/penne/any fun shaped pastas)
Alfredo sauce - 1 bottle (I use the Bertolli afredo sauce available from target/walmart)
Broccoli - 1 cup
Mushrooms - 1 cup (the white button mushrooms)
cheese - pepper jack 4 - 5 cubes
Garlic and herb seasoning (I use the Tone's with no salt and no msg from Sams club) - 2 tsp
chicken slices and cubed breasts - 1 cup (optional)
butter - 1 tbsp



Preparation:

1. Cook the pasta carefully as per the package instructions. Do not over cook the pasta because then it breaks.
2. Wash the mushrooms thoroughly. I use only the mushroom caps.
3. Add water to just cover the broccoli in a microwave safe bowl and microwave it for 3 minutes.
4. Marinate the chicken with 1 tsp of the seasoning and bake it in the oven for 15 minutes or until completely cooked.
5. In a pan heat the butter and saute the mushrooms for 5 minutes in medium flame. Check if the mushroom is cooked. Mushrooms cook faster just by sauteing and lets out the water.
6. Add the broccoli from 3 and cook for 1 minute.
7. Add the chicken from 4 and toss for 1 minute
8. In low flame add the garlic, herb seasoning and the Alfredo sauce.
9. Let the Alfredo sauce cook for a while. Add water if it gets too thick.
10. Add the cheese slices and once the cheese melts add the cooked pasta from 1.
11. Mix everything gently and serve