Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups uncooked pasta
- 1 9-ounce package fresh spinach
- 4 cups chicken, cut into bite size pieces
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 14-ounce jar tomato sauce
- 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
- 2 ounces cream cheese, cubed
- 1 cup mozzarella, shredded
- 2 tablespoon Parmesan, grated
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat oven to 375.
Cook pasta in a large saucepan according to package directions, omitting salt. When 1 1/2-2 minutes remain, add spinach. Gently push spinach into water and pasta until all spinach is covered. Drain well. Set aside.
In a large fry pan, heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil. Begin cooking chicken. When chicken is half cooked, add seasonings: pepper, optional red pepper flakes, garlic, basil and thyme. Continue cooking until chicken is fully cooked. Add tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Stir in cream cheese cubes.
Transfer chicken and sauce mixture to a large bowl. Then combine pasta and spinach with the chicken mixture. Mix well. Spoon a third of the mixture into a large baking dish, at least 2qts – slightly larger is even better. Sprinkle with a portion of the mozzarella. Repeat layers two more times, finally topping off with remaining mozzarella and sprinkling with Parmesan.
Bake covered with foil for 20 minutes and an additional 3 minutes uncovered. Serve warm.