Thanks shannone - I didn't realize it cooks more once off the heat. I also taste the pasta but it seems like within a minute it will go from "yuck this is hard" to "yuck this is overcooked"

yes, drain the noodles right away, too, then serve from the colander.

When I make this I usually cook the noodles, drain them, return to pan, put the sauce in and then heat it until the sauce is hot enough. I have a feeling that that's where I'm messing up. Next time I'll get the sauce heated in another pan and then mix the 2 together without additional heating.

In my house, I have to mix the sauce with noodles...same with spaghetti. If I leave it to them to do it themselves, someone always ends up without sauce...and that makes for an unhappy dinner!

I am probably making this too difficult for myself, but often I will heat up the sauce separately and then mix the sauce and pasta together in the serving bowl. I like to put my sauce in a microwaveable gravy boat, actually...makes for easy pouring.

*laughs* I don't even own a gravy boat. Always seemed to me like it would be just one more dish to wash. We fix our plates at the stove & counter so no point in having a boat on the table. And as I said before, if I do it that way, someone ends up without sauce.