White Bean Alfredo Sauce

I have met so many people that say they don't know how to cook. They usually complain that either their Mom would shoo them out of the kitchen when she cooked so they weren't in her way, or that their parents never really cooked "real food" so they never even had a chance to learn. That is one of the reasons (out of many!) I would like to thank my Mother.

She may not realize how much she taught us in the kitchen, but being able to help chop veggies and help out in little ways growing up helped tremendously in learning how to prepare food for our own families as we got older. Yes, there were times when she needed to focus on a big meal and wanted us to go play, but more often than not, we were able to help, or atleast watch what she was doing. She would explain things without making it boring and always made us want to help cook.

When we were little we even had our own hand-crafted "recipe book" where Mom let us go into the kitchen and make up our own recipes using whatever we wanted. Some were actually kinda good, and some were just bad. Really bad. But it taught us independence in the kitchen and being able to experiment. It was fun.

I was able to learn at a young age that sometimes not everything went right in the kitchen. Your gravy could get thin or lumpy (or both!), you ran out of eggs before you had all you needed, or just as you're in the middle of forming bread loaves out of that big batch of dough, you realize you forgot the salt.

We've all been there.

I just have a Mom that was creative enough to work around all these problems. She taught us substitutions and alternate ways of preparing food. It let us be more flexible in the kitchen, realizing that not everything has to be "by the book" and you can switch things up a bit. Because maybe it would make some recipes even better...and sometimes it was just because we had no other choice. :)

Either way, it worked. Because even if we made mistakes, we were still learning.

One of the things I remember her teaching us was how to make a white sauce in place of cream of whatever soups. You could use it for pizza or pasta and season it to fit your dish. And that's what I've been doing for most of my married life. However, learning at a young age to "experiment" I've continued to realize that even your substitutions can be substituted. 

Yes, in place of alfredo sauce you could make a white sauce. But you could also use my sister's Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce (see, it's not just me) or this White Bean Alfredo Sauce. Either choice would be tasty. So go ahead and branch out. Try something new. Even if you don't like it, at least you tried. :)

White Bean Alfredo Sauce

15 oz. great northern beans, rinsed & drained

1/3 c. freshly grated Parmesan

1 c. unsweetened almond milk (or regular milk)

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp. cajun seasoning

salt & pepper, to taste

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a blender.

Blend until smooth.

Pour into a saucepan.

On medium-high, heat thoroughly but do not boil.

Pour over pasta or rice and serve immediately.