Creamy One-Pot Pasta

I loooooove sun-dried tomatoes! Eating one is just like a punch of flavor to your taste buds. They're so good! The sun-dried tomatoes add a wonderful flavor to this pasta.

The recipe calls for penne pasta, but as you see, there are three different types of pasta in my dinner tonight. I had a little bit left over of penne pasta, bow-tie pasta and macaroni noodles, so I just decided to combine them all together so that I could clean my cabinet out of all of these boxes. For the broccoli, you could make it easier on yourself and just buy one of those pre-packaged bags of broccoli florets, but I've been on this "buy fresh as often as possible" kick for a while now, so I got a head of broccoli and cut it up into small florets myself. That left me with a decent amount of broccoli left over, but that just means I have some healthy snacks for the rest of the week now!

This is a great quick, healthy weeknight dinner for when you don't have much time to throw something together but you don't want to sacrifice good eating habits by going through a fast food drive-thru. I literally had dinner on the table within 20 minutes from the time I got started in the kitchen. Plus there was little to clean up since everything goes into the same one pot! And on top of all of that, it was delicious!!!

A few notes from the cookbook: 1) For an interesting flavor twist, omit black pepper, salt, Parmesan cheese and basil. Add 1 tbsp Moroccan Rub or Greek Rub, 2) Don't throw away remaining oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes. Reserve it to make salad dressing or pesto, and 3) If desired, 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes can be substituted for the sun-dried tomatoes.

Enjoy!

Creamy One-Pot Pasta
Pampered Chef Quick Vegetarian Main Dishes
Published by The Pampered Chef, Ltd. in 2010.

Total time: 20 minutes  Yield: 6 servings

4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 jar (7 oz) sun-dried tomatoes in oil, undrained
3 cans (14.5 oz each) vegetable broth
1 lb uncooked penne pasta
1 head broccoli (2 cups small florets)
2 medium carrots, peeled
4 oz reduced-fat cream cheese
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
Grated fresh Parmesan cheese and snipped fresh basil leaves (optional)

1. Slice garlic using Garlic Slicer. Place garlic and 1 tbsp oil from sun-dried tomatoes into (8-qt.) Stockpot; cook over medium heat 2-3 minutes or until garlic is golden brown, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; add broth. Return Stockpot to burner; increase heat to high. Cover and bring to a boil. Add pasta; cover and simmer vigorously 8-10 minutes or until pasta is almost cooked but still firm, stirring occasionally using Mega Scraper.
2. Meanwhile, cut broccoli into small florets; place into Classic Batter Bowl. Cut carrots in half lengthwise; thinly slice crosswise on a bias. Drain tomatoes; pat dry and slice into thin strips.
3. Cut cream cheese into cubes. Add vegetables, cream cheese, black pepper and salt to pasta; stir until cream cheese is melted and fully incorporated. Reduce heat to medium; cover and cook an additional 2-4 minutes or until vegetables are tender. If desired, top with Parmesan cheese and basil.