Artichoke Fettucini with summer vegetables

Nothing like fettucini with fresh summer vegetables and a light (low fat) cream sauce!

I was lucky enough to find some beautiful cherry tomatoes at our local farmers market.  I cleaned them and cut them in half along with 2 big handfuls of organic spinach.

I cooked the tomato first in a pan with some olive oil and only one garlic clove (cut in half).  I put the oil and garlic clove in first to season the oil, then added the tomatoes and spinach.

Then, I added in the artichokes.  I decided just to use one can of artichoke hearts but you can always add more.

In the meantime, I was  boiling water for the fettucini and then started the sauce.  I made a simple cream sauce but a low fat version.  I usually use Cream cheese but decided to substitute for a lower fat version and it came out just as good (maybe even better!).

I melted butter substitute, cream cheese substitute together and added low-fat milk and parmesan cheese.  I ended up adding a couple of pinches of real parmesan as well and a few sprinkles of pepper.

I then tossed half the pasta with the vegetables but if you have enough vegetables you can do the whole thing.  I also wanted to save some noodles in case my kids wouldn't eat it with the vegetables...i was definitely going to try to get them to ;)

As I scooped the pasta onto plates, I'd add a couple of tablespoons of sauce and toss it on their plate.  I figured this was a way to have less cream sauce.

My 18 month old ended up actually eating all of it.  She picked out (and ate) the vegetables one by one with her hands and attempted to eat the rest with her little fork.  She then gave up and grabbed a big fork off my plate.  She had THREE (small) bowls full and was a very happy camper.  My 4 year old ate the noodles with the cream sauce. He agreed to try a bite with the vegetables but wasn't having it.  My husband's not eating pasta so he had chili.  More on the quickest (yummiest) chili you'll ever make later!
Here's Charlotte eating her pasta.

Third bowl (below)!

Artichoke Fettucini with summer vegetables

1-lb fettucini
20 small roma tomatoes
1 can artichoke hearts
2 handfuls of fresh spinach
Extra virgin olive oil
salt/pepper
1-garlic clove

Low fat Cream Sauce
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 tbsp fancy fresh parmesan cheese
1/2 cup butter (I used Country Crock or you can use Can't believe its not butter...any butter substitute)
1/2 cup lowfat milk
1-8 oz package of Kraft Neufchatel Cheese (lower fat than cream cheese).