Penne with Spinach Sauce

This is an awesome recipe by Giada De Laurentiis from the Food Network Channel. Its very easy and fast and none the less healthy. If you can boil some water and use a food processor then you should be able to handle this recipe with ease hahahaha. Really it took me 15 minutes to cook the pasta and while that was boiling I was able to make the sauce within 5 minutes or less, so the recipe will take you less than 20 minutes.

I have never made my own pasta sauce before, but this one that Giada De Laurentiis has for you was so good and easy. I mean all you had to do was buy the ingredients throw them in the food processor, and mix all together than BAM all done enjoy.  I may even start making my own sauces for all my pasta now hahahaha maybe don't hold me to it.

Did I mention this recipe is most awesome? Let me answer that for you, yes it is haha. I made this for my family for the first time the other night and they loved every bit of it. I added some freshly baked garlic bread to the dinner which does make it less healthy, but was well worth it in my opinion. I loved this pasta it was like having a spinach salad and pasta all at the same time; it was fresh and filling, and amazingly delicious. One little thing is, I would use the whole wheat past instead of the multi grain, the recipe gives you the choice of either to use. I found that the whole wheat pasta has a much better flavor than the multi grain pasta. Ok lets face it I hate the taste of the multi grain pasta I was trying to be nice, but hey my blog I will tell you how it is in my opinion.  I recommend this recipe for everyone, even if you believe you are a horrible cook this recipe is too good to miss and way too easy not to try out. I enjoyed every bite of it to the last piece of pasta.

Ingredients

• 1 pound whole wheat or multi grain penne
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 ounces goat cheese
• 1 ounce reduced fat cream cheese
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper  
• 6 ounces fresh baby spinach leaves
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the penne and cook until it is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes.

Mince the garlic in a food processor. Add the goat cheese, cream cheese, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, and half of the spinach leaves. Blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Set the cheese and spinach mixture aside.

Meanwhile, place the remaining spinach leaves in a large bowl.

Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Spoon the pasta atop the spinach leaves in the bowl. Scrape the cheese and spinach mixture over the pasta mixture and toss to coat, adding enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Season the pasta, to taste, with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the Parmesan over and serve.