Recipe: Vegetable and Chicken Alfredo

VEGETABLE AND CHICKEN ALFREDO

4 Tbsp butter or margarine, divided (I used margarine)
3 Tbsp flour
3 cups milk
3/4 cup SARGENTO Grated Cheese: Parmesan, Parmesan and Romano, or Italian Style Grated Cheese may be used (I used about 3/4 cup brand-x parmesan and about 2 oz mozzarella cheese in the alfredo sauce)
1/2 tsp dried basil, crushed
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 chicken breast halves, boned, skinned, and cut into thin strips
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions (I used home grown onions which had more of the bulb than green tops)
4 cups sliced fresh vegetables: broccoli, carrots, zucchini, squash, mushrooms, celery, green beans, and/or bell peppers (I used about 2 cups carrots and 3 cups of zucchini and yellow squash. I planned to include mushrooms, but I forgot:-)
1/2 lb uncooked pasta, hot cooked and drained (I used fettucine)

Note: I like garlic, so I included 1 clove, crushed when I put in the onions

In medium saucepan, melt 2 Tablespoons (that's only 1/2 of it - which I missed the first time I made it:-) margarine . Add flour; cook over low heat 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Gradually whisk in milk. Bring to a simmer; cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Stir in grated cheese, basil, salt, and pepper. Set aside; keep warm.

Heat remaining 2 Tablespoons margarine and oil in large frying pan. (I just used oil here by guess since I'd already used the 4 Tbsp marg!). Add chicken; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until cooked through. Remove chicken from pan; set aside.

In same pan, cook green onions and other vegetables until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes (Note: when you have veggies with very different cooking times like carrots and zucchini, you need to put the carrots in for 3 minutes before you add the zucchini or the squash will be mush long before the carrots are done). Toss vegetables with hot pasta and chicken in large bowl. Serve with sauce and additional grated cheese if desired.

I haven't had any trouble nuking it for lunch this week either. I also ended up with a little more than 4 servings since a few things kind of got stretched/increased by user error, but I'm not complained.

Makes 4 servings
rec.food.recipes/amheit01/1994
Adapted from Sargento