Three Cheese Chicken Penne

By CruelK8E

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

Details

Adapted from bakedbyrachel.com

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.