Easiest, Yummiest Pasta In The Creamiest Cheesiest Sauce... Made Two Ways - Both Super Fast And Super Easy!

Disclaimer:  I haven't been paid to recommend any products, just wanted to share a new favourite recipe and my attempts at swapping out ingredients and tweaking to make it perfect for Hubby & I x 

Hi Honeys, 

How are you today?  All well I hope and not suffering too badly from the weather. We've had an extraordinary number of thunderstorms this past week or so.  Poor Jade! Our furbaby doesn't like that noisy thunder at all, but she always has her Mum to hug with on the sofa and one of her fluffy throws to hide under, bless her💖 

Today I thought I'd share a recipe originally shared with me by my much loved Sister in Law Celia, who found out about it from my beautiful wee niece Sarah (thank you honeys💕) 

I think it's safe to say that Hubby & I are both now officially addicted to this beyond delicious pasta dish, so much so that it seems to have found it's own day every week on our menu board.  

Yep, it's definitely fair to say it's a hit honeys 😋   

I can't put into words how fabulous this pasta dish is, nor how quick (and easy) it is to make .  Like all great recipes though, you'll find yourself making it once and then (after liking it so much) you'll want to make it again but, maybe, with your own tweaks to change it just a little. That's what we've done these past few weeks each time we've made it  😊   

So, I thought I'd share with you two ways to make this amazing dish, the original method (which is so delicious, still love it💖) which, as I later found out, is all over Pinterest.  I can't believe I missed it!  I'm so glad my lovely SiL shared it with me 💖

I've also shared how we've tweaked the recipe (so far, it's still being tweaked each time we make it so it's a wonderful work in progress 😋) including the ingredients used -which I changed a little bit.  More on that in a bit...  

OK, there are a lot of photos in this post so it might be worthwhile if you fetch a lovely cuppa (and maybe a cookie or two) I will too, and I'll meet you after the page break?  See you in a minute honeys x

Welcome back dear ones, do you have your cuppa?  I do too ☕ Why not put your feet up then and we can chat x

Let's start by having a look at the first method of making this delicious, creamy, cheesy pasta dish...

Celia & Sarah's Creamy, Cheesy Pasta

Ingredients

2 packs of Boursin garlic & herb cream cheese

1 pack of baby plum or cherry tomatoes (average pack will be around 325 -350g) 

Enough pasta for your needs - *please see note below. 

Grated cheese for topping 

Italian seasoning to sprinkle on top of grated cheese 

*Note: I usually rely on the scoop in my pasta container, I add around 4 scoops which does two of us for dinner and leaves lots for lunch next day. As a rough guide, maybe weigh out approx 60g of dry pasta per person. We always use macaroni (or "elbow pasta") but use your favourite honeys x

Directions:    

1. Let's start then by weighing out our pasta.  I usually add 4 scoops (our containers all have scoops inside) of pasta to a pot and then add enough boiling water to cover and cook for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the pasta from sticking together or to the base of the pot.)  

Note: Please be careful when dealing with hot water! It's too easy to have accidents and be burned. I have a scar on my arm to prove it 😞 I never, ever add pasta to boiling water already in a pot.  It can splash the hot water, better to boil the kettle and then carefully add the hot water to the pasta in the pot.  Don't have wee ones in kitchen either honeys, please keep them safe 💖 

My 4 scoops of pasta are approximately 240g in total of dry pasta and this will almost double in size as it cooks and might be approx 4 cups of pasta when it's ready to eat?  Just cook as much as you need honeys, if you want to cook for more servings, add more cream cheese to make the sauce go a wee bit further.  

2. With the pasta cooking away on the stove, let's get started on making that awesome sauce honeys...

First is to wash your tiny tomatoes (I can't be the only one who thinks teeny tiny things are adorable, can I? These tiny tomatoes always make me smile whenever I see them 😊  

When washed, add your tomatoes to a large, oven-proof dish along with the two packs of Boursin cream cheese.  I leave the tomatoes as they are but feel free to slice into halves if you'd like to. 

3. Carefully place your oven-proof dish onto the middle shelf of your oven, which should be pre-heated to 160°C or 320° F or gas mark 3 for 12-15 minutes. 

4. The tomatoes and cream cheese, once baked can be stirred together to create the creamiest, cheesiest sauce! Oh my! This sauce is so good and the smell of the garlic just fills the kitchen as you open the oven too!  There's not enough yum in the world to describe this fabulous sauce...

I always use a fork to "squish" the tomatoes down before mixing the sauce together but it's just occurred to me that it would be so, so, so much easier to quickly slice the tiny tomatoes into little pieces but hey, I've never, in my whole life, ever made anything easy for myself 😊

You could also remove the tomato "skins" from your sauce if you'd prefer to, I just like to leave them in. 

5.  Carefully... I know.  I do say that a lot, don't I honeys?  I have burns though, actual scars.  I don't want you getting hurt, so just, double carefully drain your cooked pasta and add a little at a time until your pasta is all combined and coated in your sauce...  

6. Scatter your grated (shredded) cheese generously across the top of your pasta dish and then sprinkle some Italian seasoning.  Leave the Italian seasoning out if you'd prefer to honeys, just do what you prefer 💖

7. Return the dish to the oven, again same temperature and on the middle shelf, and prepare for the meltiest, ooziest cheese, the yummiest, creamiest sauce and the most delicious "when are you making this again?" dinner 😋

8.  Serve while warm with a crunchy salad or why not have it with the easiest ever garlic bread or homemade wedges 😋

Enjoy! 

Rosie's (tweaked ingredients) Easiest, Yummiest Pasta In The Creamiest Cheesiest Sauce..

 

I really do believe that you can tell a seriously good recipe because you immediately want to make tweaks, change it to make it yours 😍 😊  Of course these tweaks will be ongoing until I can make it perfect lol but so far, this has been the best version we've made 💗

Ingredients:

1 can (400g) of chopped tomatoes 

1 (family size) pack (340g) or 2 "normal" packs of garlic & herb flavoured cream cheese

1 small pack (150g) of cooked, chopped chicken breast (or some leftover pieces if you've made chicken 

Enough pasta for your needs - *please see note below. 

Grated cheese for topping 

Italian seasoning to sprinkle on top of grated cheese topping 

*Note: I usually rely on the scoop in my pasta container, I add around 4 scoops which does two of us for dinner and leaves lots for lunch next day. As a rough guide, maybe weigh out approx 60g of dry pasta per person. We always use macaroni (or "elbow pasta") but use your favourite honeys x

Let's get started then...

Directions:

1. Add your pasta to a saucepan and then cover with boiling water and stir (be careful honeys!) then put on the stove to cook, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. 

2.  To an oven proof dish, add the large pack of cream cheese (or two smaller packs) and a can of chopped tomatoes - including the juice, empty the whole can into the dish.

Carefully place your oven-proof dish onto the middle shelf of your oven, which should be pre-heated to 160°C or 320° F or gas mark 3 for 12-15 minutes. 

3.  Using a spatula, carefully stir the tomatoes and cream cheese together until it's combined into the most delicious, creamiest, cheesiest sauce... 

4.  This yummiest, cheesiest sauce is taken to another level I think, by stirring through a little cooked chicken breast...

It's only a tiny change but honestly... just yummmmmmm 😍😋  Stir through until the chicken is all coated in the sauce.

5.  Next is to fetch our cooked pasta, very carefully drain it... 

6.  The cooked pasta is added to the bowl with the chicken and creamy, cheesy sauce and is stirred through until it's all coated...

7. Again, as before, generously sprinkle the grated (shredded) cheese on top of the pasta dish and then sprinkle with a little Italian seasoning if you'd like to...

 

8.  Return your dish to the middle shelf of the oven and let it continue to cook for another 12-14 minutes, until the cheese is all melted and the sauce is bubbling 😋😍 

9.  Serve while warm, again you could serve with a yummy, fresh crunchy salad or why not have it with fresh-from-the-oven garlic bread or homemade wedges 😋

10.  This pasta dish is beyond delicious honeys, and it's so, so easy to make too!  

Some Thoughts:

I do like the Boursin cream cheese from the original recipe but, unless you can find it on special, it seems a wee bit expensive to me.  So, because we just loved this recipe so much (as I said we love it so much, we've added it to our weekly meal rotation) I wanted to see if it could be just as tasty using slightly cheaper ingredients.

I know it sounds as if I'm being mean but in my defence, having recently lost my job and now being down to just one income, we're having to watch the pennies that little bit closer.  So I decided to experiment and had the following results:

1. Cream Cheese: Swapping out the Boursin for Philadelphia garlic and herb cheese sauce was fine, it was still absolutely delicious 😋  We also tried making the sauce using two packs of Asda own brand garlic & herb cheese sauce and again, still delicious 😊  So it is possible to swap out the types of cream cheese without losing out on that beyond delicious flavour. 
2. Tomatoes:  Changing from a small pack of baby tomatoes to a can of chopped tomatoes isn't about watching out budget at all, instead I just found that it's so much easier to mix through the cream cheese without having the tomatoes explode or squirt juice as they're stirred through.  Also, the canned, chopped tomatoes add little bite sized pieces to the sauce without it being the tomato skins. 
3. The addition of pieces of chopped chicken breast: This was my lovely brother in law's idea (thank you Paul, great idea and made such a difference x) it completely raised this dish and I would definitely recommend that you try it 😋😊

Over to you honeys, have you tried this awesome cheese and tomato sauce yet?  Have you swapped out any ingredients or changed anything else to make it yours?  

Till next time dear ones, thank you so much for visiting and for keeping me company today 💖  Stay safe and have the best week, hugs always xx