Tasty Lightened Bowtie with Vodka Sauce

I LOVE to cook.  I'm always looking for quick tasty recipes to whip up on the weekdays!  During the work week, my room mate and I alternate days cooking dinner for each other.  It's awesome to live with my friend while the hubs is away.  We've been room mates since we graduated college in 2008!!  She's been my huge support system along with my other amazing friends in the area!!

Anyway, I don't count points myself, but I like to test out weight watchers recipes anyway to keep things on the healthy side.  A couple nights ago, I was really craving Penne alla Vodka!  I searched on the interwebs and found the weight watchers recipe and thought I would made it and pair it with a nice caesar salad.

Here is the delicious recipe with my minor modifications.  I wanted the sauce to be more tomato-y, doubled the vodka amount (it was a rough workday!) and used bowtie pasta instead of penne!

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 2 medium-sized shallots (1/2 cup)
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons of parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt (or normal salt)
• 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
• 4 tablespoons canned tomato paste
• 4 ounces of vodka
• 12 ounces of uncooked bowtie pasta (or whatever comparable pasta like penne)
• 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
• 20 leaves of basil cut into ribbons

How to:

Use a large skillet and keep it on medium-low heat.  Once it's warm, add butter, shallots and garlic. Mix until the shallots start to caramelize, about 5 minutes.  After, add parsley, sea salt, tomato paste and mix together thoroughly to paste the ingredients together.  Cook the paste and stir for 5 more minutes.  Then, add vodka and use a wooden spoon, if you have it, to scrap everything off the base of the pan.  Cook 5 more minutes.

As you're making the sauce, bring a medium pot of water to boil and cook pasta according to package instructions.  Once it's done, drain and set aside for the sauce to complete.

When you finish cooking the paste, add the cream and reduce the heat to low.  Simmer the sauce for 3 minutes and stir at the same time.  Make sure the paste and cream dissolve into each other.  Finally, add pasta to the skillet and mix to coat.  Once the pasta is coated with sauce, top everything with basil.

And voilà!  Time to eat!