This cooler weather makes me seriously crave comfort food.

Seriously!

Although I still love to snuggle under a warm toasty blanket with a big scoop of ice cream . . .

Who doesn’t?! 😉

Anyways, the cooler weather gave me the perfect excuse to finally make this pasta recipe I had book marked in my dearly loved (and now slightly warn) copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks – Food from My Frontier.

This dish is amazing. Almost decadent, honestly if I closed my eyes I could have tricked myself into believing I was on a hot date with my spunky husband, enjoying an extravagant meal in a fancy italian restaurant . . . oh to dream . . .

I should confess though I did make a slightly “lightened up” version of the original because I was missing a few or the listed ingredients.

I substituted my all time favourite seriously versatile plain greek yoghurt in place of the heavy cream as I may or may not have used the last of my cream in this ah-mazing frosting. The end result was still nothing short of wonderful.

The combination of the tangy tomato sauce mixed with the tart, creamy yoghurt finished with fresh basil and parmesan.

Dreeeeeammmmmy.

So simple, so scrumptious, so amazing.

You need it . . . like now . . . followed by a big scoop of ice cream while your tucked under a big, toasty blanket.

You know you want to 😉

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

Ingredients –
Slightly adapted from this recipe as appears in The Pioneer Woman Cooks – Food from My Frontier
Serves 6-8

12 ounces fettuccine or other pasta (I used Macro Organic Durum Wheat Spaghetti)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 x 15 ounce jars of tomato/marinara sauce (I used Bertolli Five Brothers)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup heavy cream (I was out so I used Chobani plain greek yoghurt instead)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (more or less to taste)
Chopped fresh basil

Method –

1 – Cook pasta according to package directions, reserve a little hot pasta water for later.

2 – Heat oil in a large skillet/pan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and saute’ until the onion is translucent, about 4 mins.

3 – Pour in the tomato sauce. Add salt and pepper then stir and cook until warm.

4 – Next comes pouring in the heavy cream (or yoghurt in my case).

5 – Stir in the cream/yoghurt

6 – watch it slowly turn from a red and white mess to an orange pan of heaven (FYI – it smells pretty amazing too, be prepared).

7 – Now drain the pasta

8 – Add in some of the grated parmesan into the sauce

9 – Then the pasta right on top

10 – Toss the pasta and sauce together and splash in some of the hot pasta water if its a little thick.

11 – Just before serving add a little more parmesan if desired and some fresh basil.

12 – Serve immediately.

Ree’s suggested Variations –

– Stir in a couple of Tablespoons of pesto

– Serve with some grilled chicken, fish or steak.

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Nutritional Info (approx per serve as shown above) obtained using fatsecret.com –

Cal – 234
Fat – 2
Carbs – 44
Protein – 9
Fiber – 0