Penne alla Vodka, minus the Vodka

I found this recipe in the Now Eat This! cookbook by Rocco DiSpirito, and he's used it all over the internet as an ad for the book, so given that it seems fine to actually post the recipe here.

Now the claim is that vodka is not actually a key ingredient in penne alla vodka, and it was perfectly delicious without it so maybe thats true. I'll leave it up to your imagination how to replace the vodka you're now missing in your life.

The stuff:
-whole wheat penne pasta
-a jar fat free marinara (they have some at TJ's) or other marinara. you can make it yourself, but then this becomes a whole lot less like something you can throw on the stove when you get home at 8:00
-red pepper flakes
-1 7oz contained low fat plain Greek yogurt
-1c chopped basil (fresh! FRESH!)
-salt/pepper
-parmesan cheese
-cooked chicken chunks (optional, minus which it is vegetarian)

What to do with it:
-Boil water, cook pasta (you can figure this out).
-heat the marinara sauce, adding red pepper flakes, simmer a bit
-now you have to mix in the yogurt, and I think this is a good trick, it keeps the yogurt from curdling. mix about half a cup of marinara with the yogurt, then stir it back in the sauce
-toss together the sauce, pasta, and basil, (and chicken) topping with the cheese.

Basically, this is ridiculously easy, and pretty healthy to boot- it really tasted creamy and good, it actually made me want to start adding yogurt to everything (so, watch out!!). If you can boil pasta and stir together pre-made sauce and store-bought yogurt, you're golden. I love recipes like this, that you can throw together at the last minute, but that still taste like you're treating yourself. Try it, you'll like it!

(note- this clearly also pre-dates the whole farm box thing.. be patient, I'm getting to it! my blog posts lag a little behind my real life unless I'm over the top excited about something: exhibit A, inaugural CSA box).