As pasta sauces go, this is one of the nicest. It is certainly easy, as most Italian tomato sauce recipes are.

Italian Tomato Cream Sauce

Ingredients

• 6 ounces penne pasta, uncooked (or whatever pasta shape you prefer)
• vegetable cooking spray
• 3/4 cup finely chopped sweet red pepper
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 - 14 ounce can tomatoes, chopped but undrained
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup evaporated skimmed milk or fresh cream

Method

Variations and Tips:

• If you want a sauce with meat in it, just brown 8 ounces of ground beef with the onion, garlic and pepper and season to taste.
• If you would like to cut the fat in this recipe, replace the cream with an equal amount of evaporated skim milk. The taste will be similar, but the fat content will be cut drastically.
• Up the vegetable count and make this a really healthy pasta recipe by adding more vegetables. Add chopped zucchini or mushrooms to the sauce when you add the tomatoes. Or any other vegetable that you think might taste good.
• Cooking for a larger group? Just double or triple the recipe, tasting to adjust the seasonings.
• Make it healthier by serving the sauce over whole wheat pasta.

Did You Know?…

This is a lovely vegetarian pasta recipe, but you can certainly add meat to it if you would prefer.

Brown 1/2 pound of ground beef or a thinly sliced chicken breast.

If you are using meat, add it at the beginning, to brown with the onions and garlic, then let it cook with the tomatoes to soak up that lovely tomato flavor.

Whether vegetarian or the meat version, I think you will really enjoy the flavors of this wonderful Italian sauce.

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