Fettuccine Alfredo with Veggies and Grilled Chicken (and Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing for Dessert)

You’ll prove yourself to be a dinner superstar when you whip up this delicious fettuccine alfredo recipe in no time at all – and cement your superstardom with the best carrot cake – hands-down – in the world

A recent conversation with one of my girlfriends about the upcoming Italian feast we’re planning got me craving fresh pasta. I stopped short of making it from scratch and picked some up from the deli section of my local grocer.

For the inspiration behind the recipe, I turned to my trustiest old cookbook, The Complete Canadian Living Cookbook.

The pasta was delicious and very easy to make, only taking a few minutes in a pot of boiling water.

Unfortunately I didn’t sequence the timing of each part of the dish very well and the noodles were ready long before the vegetables and chicken.

They looked like a clumpy tangle of noodles but still tasted declicious, and now I know for next time to prepare them last.

The rest of the meal was incredibly easy too: strips of seasoned chicken cooked on the electric grill, a bag of frozen mixed veggies quickly tossed in the wok, an easy sauce, and the finished product sprinkled with fresh parsley.

And what pasta dish would be complete without a tasty wine? I chose a beautiful, crisp Sauv Blanc from New Zealand’s Flying Kiwi winery.

And what meal would be complete without a delectable dessert? I am not exagerating when I say this is the absolute best carrot cake in the world – also from my trusty Canadian Living cookbook.

It’s rich and moist, and the cream cheese icing is the perfect topper. I use half the amount of icing sugar that the recipe calls for so it’s not too sweet.

I usually divvy up the batter to make two round cakes and a tray of muffins. That way I can make two cakes (or an impressive two-tier cake) for guests and have leftover muffins that I can freeze and have for my afternoon snacks for weeks to come.

Fettuccine Alfredo with Fresh Pasta and Grilled Chicken

Ingredients

• 3 chicken breasts, sliced into strips
• 3 tbsp peppercorn ranch dressing
• 375g fettuccine (or 1 package fresh fettuccine)
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• pinch nutmeg
• 1 bag mixed frozen vegetables
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped

Instructions

1. Combine chicken and dressing in resealable bag and let marinate for 2 to 24 hours.
2. Cook chicken on electric grill, 15 to 20 minutes, turning halfway through.
3. In a large pot, cook noodles according to package instructions (save this step for last if you’re using fresh pasta).
4. Heat oil in wok over medium-high heat.
5. Stir fry vegetables until just cooked.
6. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring cream and butter just to boil. Reduce heat to low, stir in Parmesan, salt, pepper and nutmeg, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
7. Combine noodles, sauce and vegetables and top with chicken and parsley.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Get creative with the baking containers you use for this recipe. I usually make two cakes (see image above) and a tray of mufifns. This time I made adorable mini square cakes (see image at bottom) with my new mini square baking tray.

Cake Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups carrots, grated
• 1 cup canned, crushed pineapple, drained
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Icing Ingredients

• 1 250g package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup icing sugar (I use 1/2 cup)

Cake Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease cake pans and muffin tray.
2. In large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.
3. In separate bowl, beat together sugars, eggs, oil and vanilla until smooth.
4. Pour wet mixture over dry and stir just until moistened.
5. Stir in carrots, pineapple and pecans.
6. Spread into prepared pans.
7. Bake cakes for about 30 minutes and muffins for about 20 minutes, or until cake tester inserted into centre comes out clean.
8. Let cool in pan on rack for 5 to 10 minutes and then transfer from pan to rack.
9. Spread with icing just before consuming.

Icing Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese with butter until smooth.
2. Beat in vanilla.
3. Beat in icing sugar, one-third at a time, until smooth.