Day 40: Baked Penne Pasta

Oh how I love these winters in MN...ok not really but cold evenings are great for comfort food!!  And really whats better than a cheesy, tomatoy, pasta dish?!?  So thats what I decided to make.  For this recipe I used a new to me product....Philadelphia Cooking Creme...its kinda great.  After using it once I already have a few ideas that for other recipes it would be great in...but lets get back to the recipe at hand.

The original recipe can be found at www.plainchicken.com


Yummy...cheesy...delicious

Ingredients:
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 c onion chopped
1/2 c green peppers
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 tub Philadelphia Italian Cheese and Herb Cooking Creme
1 cup Kraft Shredded Mozzeralla Cheese, divided (I used Kraft with a touch of Philadeplia Cream Cheese Mozzeralla)
3 c cooked penne pasta

Step 1:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Step 2:  In a large skillet, brown ,eat with onions and peppers.  After browned drain excess fat.

Step 3:  Stir in spaghetti sauce, 3/4 c cooking cream and 1/2 c mozzarella, cook and stir 2-4 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Step 4:  Combine sauce mixture and pasta, mix lightly.  Pour into a 2 qt casserole, top with remaining cooking creme and mozzarella.  Cover and bake 20 mins or until heated through (uncover after 15 minutes.)

Step 5:  Eat and Enjoy!!!  Serve with garlic bread and salad for a complete meal.

This recipe is getting a 4!!  Combines all my favorite things...it was pretty easy to make.  The whole thing is that I used less pasta than the original recipe called for...3 cups seemed like a awful lot.  I used about half the amount of pasta but keeps the sauce the same...because I like sauce!!