Pasta With Philadelphia Cream Cheese

Total Time: 40 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 1 cup small penne pasta
• 1 cup tri-color spiral pasta (rotini vegetable pasta)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup chopped small onion
• 2 large garlic cloves, chopped small
• 1 cup chopped chopped button mushroom
• 1/2 cup finely chopped sweet red pepper
• 1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper
• 2 tablespoons pesto sauce (i use 2 cubes of homemade frozen pesto)
• 1/3 cup philadelphia cream cheese (herb and vegetable)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil or 2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

Recipe

• 1 in a large cooking pot or pasta pot, fill 3/4 full with hot water and bring to boil.
• 2 add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon of salt and penne and rotini pasta.
• 3 bring to boil and continue to cook uncovered for about 20 minutes or until el dente.
• 4 meanwhile, in a large frying pan on medium-high heat add olive oil and butter.
• 5 add onions and garlic and cook for 3 minutes, stirring often, but do not burn.
• 6 add mushrooms, sweet red pepper, green pepper and stir fry for 4 minutes.
• 7 add pesto, basil, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, mix well to blend.
• 8 when pasta is cooked, drain well but reserve 1/2 cup of cooking water.
• 9 add pasta and 1/4 cup of pasta water to the mixture in the frying pan and stir well to coat.
• 10 add the cream cheese and stir well to coat the pasta.
• 11 reserve the remaining 1/4 cup of pasta water to be used later if necessary.
• 12 serve pasta immediately.
• 13 refrigerate any unused portions. cover with plastic wrap.
• 14 to re-warm the next day. press parchment paper into a frying pan. using scissors, cut the protruding parchment paper level with the top of the frying pan.
• 15 add 1/4 cup of pasta water and the pasta and
• 16 stir to blend.
• 17 cover the frying pan with a lid and heat the pasta on medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• 18 serve hot.