Creamy Tomato Pasta

Reposted from former blog, Just Add Sparkles.

I wasn't sure what to call this dish. It's something that I make all the time and kind of made up. Well, I know other people do it too but I don't think there is a name for it. I'm talking about when you mix your alfredo sauce with your tomato sauce. It is divine and waaayyy better than either sauces on their own. At least in my opinion.

(Do you like my zebra "party" plates?)

I don't really like the store bought alfredo sauce so I found a great homemade recipe. And sometimes when I'm feeling up to it I'll make a homemade tomato sauce recipe as well. But usually I just cheat and use the stuff from a jar.

So here is my makeshift Creamy Tomato Pasta dish.

Ingredients

Whole wheat linguine
1/2 cup butter
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 cups milk
6 oz grated parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce

Before we start I must admit, I'm a "whatever is in the pantry" kind of cook. I substitute a lot of things here and there depending on what I have. So when the recipe says whole wheat linguine noodles, that's just what I used this time around but I've used all sorts of different noodles for this recipe.

Soooo, that being said boil whatever noodles you have on hand.

Next in a saucepan melt butter over medium heat.
Add cream cheese and garlic powder (I hardly ever measure and just put in a few dashes).  Stir with a whisk until smooth.
Add milk, a little at a time, whisking to smooth out the lumps.
Stir in the parmesan cheese and pepper.
Let sauce thicken.

(If you just wanted homemade alfredo sauce you could stop here, because it's pretty good.)

Turn down heat to low and mix in tomato sauce. (Confession: the amount of tomato sauce I told you above in the ingredients is a guess. I've never measured before, I just add it until it looks right.)


Mix with whatever noodles you cooked and serve to a very hungry and soon to be very happy family.

When I make this for Aaron (the hubs) and myself I half the recipe and there is still enough for leftovers. Hopefully that gives you an idea of how much you should make.