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I often wonder what it would be like to be invited to someone's home for dinner and just graciously accept.

But when you live with picky eaters, that option is off the table.

The latest invitation came from Jon's family. Jon is the middle daughter's boyfriend, and we've gotten to know and like his parents over the months. We recently pitched in to help him complete his Eagle Scout project.

We countered their dinner offer with our list of demands, like a rock star negotiating the contract for backstage refreshments.

We started with the basics: No onions. No mushrooms. That alone can be a deal-breaker for many cooks, who find those basic ingredients as essential to a dish as salt and pepper.

To say my husband doesn't like onions is an understatement. He despises them. He gets angry if he sees them in the refrigerator. At restaurants, he doesn't just say "hold the onions, please;" he tells the server of his hatred for them. If I eat them, his eyes get big and he draws back and shakes his head as if I were eating worms. Straight from the ground.

Now our youngest has decided to go vegetarian.

"You mean like, no red meat?" I asked hopefully.

"I mean nothing that was ever alive," she said.

"Plants are alive," the oldest chimed in, throwing around the knowledge she has gained as a graduate student at UD.

We settled on the definition of "alive" as anything that had a face, and now she proudly points out PETA ads with Paul McCartney, who had his epiphany while fishing and concluded: "I realized as I watched him fight for breath that his life was as important to him as mine is to me."

Far be it from me to question Sir Paul, but I don't give fish that much credit, and I don't assign gender to them. Nonetheless, I respect my daughter's position and am accommodating her.

But the truth is, for a vegetarian, she's not a big fan of vegetables.

It reminds me of a quote from comedian Dennis Miller: "I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals. I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants."

All of which leaves me with cooking meals with no mushrooms, no onions, optional meat and a limited selection of vegetables.

A popular choice is pasta with a rich sauce, which is fine for a 15-year-old with high metabolism who runs several miles a week and works out in between, but adds up to extra poundage on us normal people.

So I was delighted to find a low-fat recipe for Fettuccini Alfredo that doesn't taste low fat. It's from the capable folks at Cook's Illustrated, who settle upon a recipe through trial-and-error until they get it just right.

I like to sauté a few shrimp to serve as an option, but even though you'd have to look hard to discern a face on a shrimp, the youngest doesn't eat it. Vegetarian or not, she just doesn't like shrimp.

Because the sauce thickens rapidly as it cools, its recommended to serve it in warmed bowls. You can do this by filling the bowls with some of the boiling water used to cook the pasta.

Contact this writer at carol.rini@gmail.com.

Low-fat Fettuccini Alfredo

Serves 4

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 teaspoons all-purpose four

3/4 cup whole milk

1/4 cup half and half

1 garlic clove, peeled and lightly crushed

Table salt and ground black pepper

Pinch ground nutmeg

1 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1 9-ounce package fresh fettuccini

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Heat butter over medium heat in a large saucepan until foaming. Whisk in flour until mixture is smooth and golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in milk, half-and-half, garlic, one-half teaspoon salt, one-half teaspoon pepper and nutmeg, and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until sauce is slightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Discard garlic, stir in cheese and remove sauce from heat.

Stir one tablespoon salt and pasta into boiling water and cook, stirring constantly, until al dente, according to package directions. Ladle water into the serving bowls, and reserve 1 cup pasta water, then drain pasta.

Return sauce to low heat, add one-third cup of the reserved pasta water and the cooked pasta, and toss until evenly coated. Add more pasta water as needed to thin sauce to proper consistency; adjust seasonings. Empty water from warm bowls and fill with pasta. Serve immediately.