Fun with Food, August 2, 2009

Let me start out by stating that I love weekends! One thing I love even more than that are weekends that I get to cook. Sometimes I feel like we wake up and walk out the door only to return to call it a night. Today we were able to spend a lot of time at home and I spent the afternoon cooking. I thought that I would share a great, easy recipe that I made for lunch. You can tell from the pictures that Emerson gives it her seal of approval! I also roasted chicken and red potatoes for dinner, but no pictures.



Creamy Penne Rigate

Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey or lean ground beef
1 box of penne rigate (or your favorite tubular shaped pasta, we use Dreamfields)
1 onion chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic
fresh basil and fresh parley (or whatever you have around)
1 block reduced fat cream cheese cubed
1 jar of your favorite sauce (we use Newman's Own Sockarooni)
1 cup grated mozarella cheese

Directions:
1) Bring large pot to boil and add pasta when water is boiling. Cook to your desired tenderness (I like the pasta to still be a little bit firm) and drain.
2) Heat olive oil in pan over medium heat for a minute or two until pan is hot
3) Add onion and saute for 3-5 minutes until onions are translucent and add garlic for the last minute or so
4) Add ground turkey or ground beef and cook completely
5) Drain off any excess grease (there shouldn't be much since the meat is so lean)
6) Add entire jar of sauce over low heat. Next, add cream cheese cubes until incoorporated into sauce.
7) Pour sauce mixture over prepared pasta
8) Add mozarella cheese over individual servings

This is a super easy dish to prepare and won't break the budget. Enjoy!