7.28.2010

Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake

Is that recipe title long enough for you?

I got this recipe from the Kraft Foods magazine that I used to receive in the mail... until I moved and I couldn't get the subscription changed over for some reason...Sad.

This recipe makes 4 servings and each serving is only 460 calories! This was delicious- especially for being under 500 calories!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups multigrain penne pasta, uncooked
9 oz. fresh spinach leaves
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1 tsp dried basil
1 jar (14 1/2 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
2 oz. Neufchatel cheese, cubed (you could use cream cheese if you aren't worried about the calorie content)
1 cup Mozzarella Cheese
2 Tbsp. Parmesan Cheese
Right after I took the picture of my ingredients, my little cheese-monger stole a whole bunch of cheese and I had to grate more.
Heat oven to 375. Cook and stir chicken and basil in large skillet. Add sauce and tomatoes; bring to boil. Simmer 3 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked. Stir in Neufchatel cheese.
Cook pasta according to package directions
Add the spinach to the boiling water for last 1 minute. Remember that spinach will boil down to almost nothing when you put it in the water, so put in WAY more spinach than you think you should... TRUST ME!

Drain pasta mixture and add to skillet of chicken, tomatoes and sauce. Add 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and stir until mixed well.
Transfer to a baking dish. I used an 8x8 pan. Bake 20 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese. Bake 3 more minutes.
You could easily make this vegetarian by just leaving out the chicken and it would still be delicious! Enjoy!
(Picture from Kraft Foods magazine, pg. 22 Holiday '08/Winter '09 Magazine)
Photobucket

6 comments:

Suzanne & Andrew Dupuis said...

Thanks for the dinner idea!! I am headed to the kitchen RIGHT NOW... :)

Suzanne & Andrew Dupuis said...

OK... I LOVE this recipe! Umm... your were right... use A LOT of spinach! I thought I was... then it piddled away to nothing. I used the cream cheese (cause I had it) I like the way it made it creamy! AND... my 3 yr old and 1 yr old nieces LOVED IT!!! THUMBS UP ADELE!

Hannah said...

Wow. Yum!!

Your little guy is so cute!

Ashley Schill said...

Yum! I made a recipe similar to this a while back but it also had heavy cream in it - so good but definitely not under 500 calories! ;)

Unknown said...

that looks SO SO good! Im totally making myself this without the chicken.

Monica H said...

This looks so tasty! I'm going to have to get some fresh spinach because this is a must make!

 
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