Jenny's Guiltless Alfredo, White Bean Chicken Chili, and Cornbread

This week I made the Guiltless Alfredo pasta and the chicken chili.

I made the alfredo pasta without the chicken. I just added a little more bacon than what it called for. I think it would be good with chicken and next time I would add more artichokes since I am a fan. I didn't have quite as many as what the recipe called for. I also thought it would be yummy with sauteed mushrooms and maybe a white or yellow onion sauteed instead of the green onion. My husband really liked the pasta a lot. I thought it had a good flavor. I am wondering though if next time I would bake it. I'm not sure why that step was in there, except maybe to melt the cheese more. But it was creamier before the baking and I thought it looked great! Either way I am sure it would be good.

I made the chili yesterday and it was the perfect day to make it! It was rainy and stormy and on the cooler side for Houston. I really liked this recipe. I have another white bean chicken chili recipe I had been using, but this one is better. The other one is just kind of peppery and this one has a great flavor with the cilantro and the lime juice. Yum! I read at the bottom of the recipe, after the fact, that avocado would be a good thing to add. I agree. I think a little diced avocado would be a good addition, but again...I am a huge fan. I was wondering how the chicken would turn out in this soup. Sometimes I think chicken gets tough when it's cooked in soup, but this chicken was so tender. I had some leftovers for lunch today and the chicken was still really tender.

The cornbread I actually made a few months ago. I made it before we officially started the cookbook and I made it along with their red beans and rice recipe and their honey butter. I wasn't so much a big fan of the cornbread. I kind of like a more savory, corn-y type of cornbread. It was also during my first trimester and their is no accounting for what does or doesn't taste good at that time! Part of the problem maybe too was the honey butter. It was really, really, really sweet. I thought honey butter was just...honey and butter. But their recipe adds a fair amount of powdered sugar to the honey and butter. So it was super sweet honey butter on top of sweet cornbread/cake. Oh well. Maybe I will have to try it again under different circumstances :)