Recipe: Sugar Snap Peas Pasta

I've tried making my own cream-based pasta sauce from scratch in the past and have had little success. It always comes out too runny. But this sauce was perfect! In fact, I caught myself licking the sauce off the bowl (it was that good). The sauce will look thicker than it should when you first combine the cheese with the cream, but the butter will melt when tossed with the sugar snap peas, so it will thin out the sauce to a perfect texture when you combine them.

ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package dry penne pasta
3/4 (4 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 ounces Gorgonzola cheese
2 tablespoons cream
1/2 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed
2 tablespoons butter
salt and ground black pepper to taste

directions:
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the pasta, and cook until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, cover pot, and set aside.
2. Stir the cream cheese, Gorgonzola cheese, and cream together in a bowl until smooth. Set aside.
3. Bring another large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the sugar snap peas, and cook until crisp, 1 to 2 minutes. Drain. Toss peas with butter. Stir cream cheese mixture into peas, and toss to coat evenly. Serve immediately over cooked pasta.

serves four

how i lightened this recipe/made it a little healthier:
1. I used whole wheat penne instead of the regular kind
2. I used neufchatel cheese insead of cream cheese (neufchatel has less saturated fat than cream cheese)
3. I used fat-free half & half instead of heavy cream (it did not effect the sauce texture-wise)
4. I used promise light spread instead of butter

Definitely my new favorite pasta recipe.