Now that high school basketball season is over I am home a bit earlier and have time to do some actual cooking in the evenings. We eat a lot of pasta and frozen ravioli or tortellini, and I have never found a bottled Alfredo sauce that I liked. After experimenting with a number of recipes from books and online, this is the one we have really liked lately:

Ingredients
2 Tbs. butter
3 Cloves garlic, finely minced
4 oz cream cheese, softened and cut into small pieces
1 C. milk (I use 1%. 2% or Whole will be creamier)
3/4 to 1 C. grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Saute the garlic in the butter for about 2 minutes until cooked through but not burned. Add the cream cheese, stirring with a whisk until the mixture is smooth and creamy Add the milk gradually, whisking quickly and constantly until fully into the sauce. The sauce will seem very runny at this point. Stir in the Parmesan cheese until the cheese is melted and the sauce is the desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat for a thinner sauce, or continue to stir over medium heat for 2-3 minutes for a thicker sauce.

Serve immediately over your favorite pasta or over steamed vegetables.

Yields about 2 cups of sauce.

This sauce takes about 10-12 minutes to make if you use pre-minced garlic, so you can whip it up while your pasta is cooking and your garlic bread is in the over.