I am a gourmet cook. Unlike many I would never use/substitute lite calorie items. It just doesn't taste right and many low cal items are full of carcinogenics and junk to make them taste decent.. If you make something, make it right or don't make it at all. Worried about calories- eat a smaller portion. Life is not a play-you don't get more than one chance at it; there are no rehearsals. Enjoy things and don't sweat the small stuff!!!
I thought this recipe would likely give anyone a heart attack, so I fiddled around with it a bit. I used low fat sour cream instead of the heavy cream, and used light parmesan. It turned out delicious; my husband loved it, and he hates it when I "low fat" everything. Much healthier than the 62g of fat per serving! Thanks for the Fab recipe, Carol!
around with it
This was very good though I prefer to use fresh ingredients. I used fresh garlic (4 cloves), squeeze of lemon instead of lemon/pepper, 1/2 & 1/2 instead of heavy cream. Rotini pasta for ease of eating and I think it 'catches' the sauce better. I also chopped up the chicken and the peppers for our kids. Used olive oil not butter. Very pretty when finished with the red and green peppers. Next time I will make a little roue after sauteing to help the sauce thicken. I used quite a bit more seasoning. In the end it was delicious.
When ten of us share our N.C. house rental for our yearly vacations I always do all of the cooking and am constantly looking for meals that can feed a crowd. Well this recipe certainly did the trick! I used evaporated skim milk in place of the heavy cream and penne in lieu of linguini. Everyone truly raved about this dish!
WOW! I made this last night and it was delicious, totally thought it tasted like I had ordered from a restaurant. Made a couple of changes. To cut the fat I didn't use the oil, and I used fat-free sour cream (only because I am lactose intolerant and can't handle cream) I can handle sour cream though and I used just less than a cup. It came out like a dream. I used Zatarain's creole spice and I went a little over board. My husband likes it spicy (I don't) but I kept eating anyways, because it tasted so good. Had no lemon pepper so used real lemon juice and then added cut up tomato and diced onion, and used minced garlic instead of powder. Also, cut the chicken into bite size pieces. I will definitely make this again! With just a little less spice.
Thanks for a great recipe!!! Anna
Okay, this is my 2nd review.Of course it was fantastic the first time but I wanted to cut down the fat so we could have it as often we we wanted to! This time I used 1/2 and 1/2 instead of cream and thickened it w/ a little cornstarch. Worked great.I also used just green peppers, the others are so expensive! If I was going to make it for company, I would buy the red and yellow but for the family green is fine. I dont think the flavor suffers, and the kids push half of them to the side of their plates anyway! WE LOVE THIS, YUMMMMM
Wonderful!!! I omitted the butter and doubled the seasonings and used fat free cream. The cream was a little thin for my taste. I'll try to thicken it next time and see if that works. In any event this dish had wonderful flavor and the colors looked very pretty on the plate. This could easily be used as a vegetarian dish. I'll definitely make this again.
Excellent recipe - definitly restaurant taste to it. I didn't want to gain the restaurant weight though and used milk instead of cream. Was a bit watery but I didn't have cornstarch to try and thicken it. Still, the taste was unbelievable! Will try the cornstarch next time.
Other changes I made - Diced the peppers and only used one green, used fresh garlic and mushrooms, olive oil instead of butter, and cut up chicken.
For the reviewers that thought the sauce is not thick enough instead of adding cornstarch to the sauce to thicken it up throw in a handful of mozzerella it thickens the sauce up perfectly and adds to the flavor. This is a great recipe I have made it several times!!
Basically good, but needs adjusting. I had three chicken breasts so sauteed in 3T butter (& used 1 1/2T cajun seasoning), which may be part of the reason the sauce was so thin. It didn't need that extra butter. Probably one, or one & a half tablespoons would be fine for two. I went for half & half instead of heavy whipping cream (the other recipe with the EXACT SAME NAME - how confusing is THAT?!? -uses half & half). That's another reason the sauce was so thin. Although, other reviews (that used heavy whipping cream - & all the butter ... Hmmmm ... :D) still needed to thicken. I'll try cooking the chicken; then vegs; then removing & adding flour; then the cream or half & half. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but thin. 'Wasn't spicy enough for me. It was "mild" on the scale of "mild, medium, hot, extra hot". Something to remember, if you have leftovers, the sauce spices up overnight. Still thin :), but spiced up. :D Fresh parmesan cheese is a must for great presentation. That "powdered" stuff doesn't compare.
