From Our Kitchen: Whole Wheat Pasta w/Garlic White Sauce

Folks. I concocted this recipe all on my own! Here's the story: yesterday I realized I was very limited in what was around the house for cooking. While I adore going to the grocery store (this makes me weird, yes), I was morally opposed to going to the grocery store on a Friday afternoon for ingredients for one meal, and then turning around and going back for my weekly shopping this morning. Moral opposition is a really hard thing to overcome, you know. So, I rifled, I pillaged, I dug, and I decided that whole wheat pasta, asparagus, and turkey bacon would naturally go together very well, but that I would certainly need some sauce to bind it all together. I have never attempted a homemade sauce before (Harris always makes our homemade red sauce - it's one of his specialties). So, I used the powers of Google to determine what the makings of a basic white sauce would be. I didn't have all the needed ingredients, surprise, surprise, so I improvised, and came up with something I (and the hubby) found pretty tasty! Yay!

What You'll Need:

• Bunch of asparagus
• 1/2 pack turkey bacon
• 3/4 box whole wheat pasta (I had penne, but use whatever, you know)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup cheese (Parmesan is probably the best option, but I had extra sharp cheddar, and it worked fine!)
• 2 cups milk (I used skim - you could also use whole milk, heavy cream, so on and so forth)
• salt & pepper, to taste

What You'll Do:

1. Snap ends off asparagus, and blanch in boiling, salted water for 3 minutes. Drain, rinse with cool water, and set aside.
2. Prepare turkey bacon (I baked mine in the oven, but feel free to fry, microwave, what have you). Chop turkey bacon into small-ish pieces
3. Prepare pasta according to package directions. Set aside.
4. In a medium saucepan, melt butter.
5. Saute garlic in butter for 2 minutes.
6. Whisk in flour and milk. Stir continuously until well incorporated.
7. Add in cheese. Continue stirring.
8. Add salt and pepper to taste.
9. Add pasta, asparagus, and turkey bacon to sauce.
10. Enjoy!