Less Expensive Cream Sauce

Last night, I made a cream sauce to go with our pasta. I was just getting ready to make my mom's old seafood fettuccine sauce when I realized it had 1/2 cup of butter in it and my eyes got a little buggy. I figured I would cut it back to 3 Tbsp and see how it went. But, I called my mom first to see if she had any advice. She did! It just so happened that she just tried a new recipe recently and it turned out great! It's much less expensive and cheaper. The old recipe had 1 cup of heavy cream and 1/2 cup butter in it (making it more expensive). The new recipe had 3 Tbsp of butter, 1/4 cup red fat mayo, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, and 1 cup of chicken broth. I think together those are less expensive and healthier. I modified my mom's recipe a little and this is what I came up with...I'm writing the recipe below. We loved it--even the kids!

Reduced fat =) Seafood Fettucine

Ingredients:
8 oz. red fat cream cheese (but not non fat)
1 cup chicken broth
1/4-1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup red. fat mayonaise
3 Tbsp. butter
1 sm. onion, minced
1 stalk celery, minced
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 lb. shrimp: thawed, cooked, peeled, and deveined

Saute the mushrooms in 1 Tbsp. butter on med. high heat. When they are sauteed, ladle them out with a slotted spoon and set them aside. Wipe out the mushroom liquid from the pan with a paper towel (if you leave it in, it will color everything).
Add in the other 2 Tbsp. of butter and add the onion and celery. Saute and then again ladle them out and set them aside with the mushrooms. But, this time leave the extra butter that's leftover in the pan.
Add the chicken broth, cream cheese, parmesan cheese, and mayonaise. Heat over med. heat and whisk until creamy.
Add the vegetables back in and the shrimp. Heat through. The longer you cook the shrimp, the smaller they will get, so you only want to get them warm.

This was really yummy. We had gotten a treat at Trader Joes and bought some uncooked shrimp from South America for $9 that were supposed to taste like little lobsters---and they did! So, the sauce was especially good and far less expensive than eating it in a restaurant. The sauce would have been a very good cream sauce even without the shrimp if you don't like shrimp and I think you could even try chicken in it if your family prefers chicken alfredo with pasta.