I ran across this recipe as I was looking through recipe books at Barnes and Noble. I adapted it a bit, to my taste and I think it turned out pretty good!
Here is what you need for a family of 4:
1 TB cornstarch, 1 cup milk, 1/2 box of Rotini (or noodle of choice), 4-5 TB parmesean, 1/2 cup sour cream, steamed broccoli (optional), mushrooms (optional), 2 TB butter (not pictured)
Step 1: Start boiling your water for your pasta, cook as indicated on package and drain.
Step 2: While pasta is cooking, start your sauce! Mix 1/2 cup milk and 1 TB cornstarch until blended. Add 1/2 cup sour cream, 3 TB parmesan cheese and 1 TB butter, mix and heat until warm. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Step 3: Steam your broccoli. I use fresh broccoli as much as I can. It is so much better than frozen, and I can get my daughter and husband to eat it that way as well!
Step 4: Preheat oven to 350 and butter your dish.
Step 5: Make biscuits/garlic bread. If you have never had bisquick’s garlic cheddar biscuits, you have to try them! They are about $1.25 for the bag and it makes about 10 biscuits. They taste just like Red Lobster’s biscuits! Yum!
Step 6: Mix your pasta, sauce, steamed veggies and mushrooms in your buttered dish. Sprinkle with more parmesan, and add a few dots of butter. When I first mixed the sauce in with the pasta, I was pretty disappointed. The sauce seemed to have separated and wasn’t creamy looking. After cooking, however I was pleasantly surprised!
Step 7: Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until sauce is bubbly. 
Step 8: Serve with biscuits or garlic bread and enjoy!
This recipe was okay, but not a favorite. My husband, however did go up for 2nds! I am picky when it comes to cream sauce. Besides this recipe, most of the cream sauce recipes I have found have been expensive and hard to make. I don’t love this one, but I may play with the recipe until I do!
Let me know if you have had success with a different cream sauce recipe.
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Cost of Meal for 4: $4.00
Cost per person: $1.00
I have the best luck using flour as the thickener for cream sauces. Also, I have found that any cream or sour cream should be added after the milk/flour mixture has thickened. If the cream or sour cream gets too hot, it is no longer creamy. For that matter, the milk can get sort of grainy if it actually gets boiling.
So, basically, I mix the flour and milk and heat while stirring until it is thickened. Remove from heat and mix in cream or sour cream. Return to med/low heat and bring back up to temp. while stirring but do not let boil. Add seasonings/cheese and stir until melted.
You probably already know this but on the off chance you have never tried it this way, I thought I would post.
This sounds really yummy, however I am scared of making white sauces for some reason..LOL. Do you think it would work with a jar of alfredo?
Katrina,
I do think that a jar of alfredo would work for this instead of making your own cream sauce. Let me know how it turns out!
Sarah
a.k.a. Meal Planning Mommy