White Bean "Alfredo" Sauce

I tried out a new recipe last night and it turned out so well I just had to share it. Let me preface this by saying that I'm not the type to constantly substitute "good" foods for "bad" foods (ala cauliflower EVERYTHING). My boyfriend and I make room in our diet for whatever we crave, and no foods are off-limits. We are, however, trying to incorporate more beans and legumes into our diet and this seemed like a yummy way! I don't have any pictures though, sorry... We gobbled it all up too quickly.

White Bean "Alfredo" Sauce

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove
1/4 cup of diced white onion
2 cups of white beans, cooked (canned and drained, or home prepared)
1 cup of skim milk
1/2 cup of shredded cheese (Your choice - I used a mix of Parmesan and marble)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1) in a saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until fragrant.
2) Add the beans and stir to coat.
3) Add the skim milk, cheese, paprika, and onion powder. Simmer while stirring for about 5 minutes.
4) Blend the mixture until smooth. (Either transfer it to a standing blender, or use an immersion blender. Personally, I think an immersion blender is way easier.)
5) Return mixture to the saucepan (if you used a standing blender) and allow it to reheat.
6) Salt and pepper to taste.

We served this over whole grain pasta and green beans. It is very filling, so beware that your eyes may be bigger than your stomach! We made a double batch and froze the rest for later use.

One Note: Once the mixture cools down, it thickens to more of a paste than a sauce. When I do this again I will reserve 1 cup of the water from boiling the beans and add it in as needed to thin the sauce out, or add more milk.

And that's it! My boyfriend was AMAZED, and asked that we put this recipe into our regular rotation. I hope you like it.