LAST EDITED ON 01-05-12 AT 11:52 PM (EST)

I just finished this, and it was a great success. Both Mr. Karchita and myself liked it a lot and went back for seconds.

I was concerned about the calories, so I made a few adaptations.

I added the following:
• mushrooms
• garlic
• two cans of diced tomatoes
• diced green pepper
• capers
• a bay leaf

And I made the following substitutions:
• chicken Italian sausages
• low fat milk + corn starch for the cream (Yes, I can hear everybody gagging, but I just can't afford the calories in whipping cream.)
• about 1/4 pound of low fat havarti cheese + 1/2 cup or so of grated parmesan
• rigatoni for the penne (using what we had on hand)

I kept the same amount of pasta although with all tomatoes I added, it made 6-8 servings. The sauce became creamy tomato, which was very good. I simmered it for a while to try to reduce some of the water from the canned tomatoes. If I did it again this way, I would have drained off some of that water.

I think you could make this without the meat and hardly miss it. I do think the capers added a nice bite, and olives or marinated artichokes would do the same thing.

ETA: I also just left the sausages in their casings, sliced into disks. It's easier and I think it looks nice.

Thank you, zombs, for a great recipe!