Friday Fun: Creamy Garlic Spinach Chicken Pasta

Summertime, and the living is easy! We hope you've been having amazing summers: lots of swimming, family time, cocktails and of course food! The Wisconsin Test Kitchen has been having a very active summer! We hit up Milwaukee Kayak Company, rented kayaks and toured the Milwaukee river. It was a blast, and so fun to see our great city from a new vantage point. 

SB has been spending her summer at day camp with her friends, and last week she passed her swimming test and can now swim in the deep end of the pool (much to her delight). 

We've also tried some new (to us) restaurants, and have declared Barnacle Bud's the best patio in Milwaukee. We've been fortunate to have beautiful weather so far this summer, and we hope it lasts!  

Between exploring all Milwaukee has to offer, we've also been cooking. We've tried to focus on meals that are easy to prepare, so we can spend our evenings playing in the yard, or meeting friends for ice cream. 

Here's an easy meal we made a few weeks ago and loved. 

Creamy Garlic Spinach Chicken Pasta
Recipe courtesy of: Becky's Best Bites

Ingredients
12 oz. penne pasta
10 oz. fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 large, yellow onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
½ cup garlic and herb cream cheese (we used 4-5 Laughing Cow Garlic & Herb wedges)
⅓ cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flake, more or less depending on your preference
sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste.

Instructions

Cook pasta according to package directions, reserving one cup of starching cooking water. Drain and return to hot pot, add chopped spinach, cover and set aside to let spinach wilt.

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet.

Once hot, add chicken to the skillet and sauté for approximately 5 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

Add onion and garlic to the pan and saute for 2-3 minutes or until the onion has softened and beginning to turn translucent.

Add cream cheese and reserved cooking water to chicken. Stir to combine and melt cream cheese.

Add chicken/cream cheese mixture to pot with pasta and spinach. Add parmesan, crushed red pepper (if using), salt and pepper. Stir to combine.

Serve with additional parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes for garnish.

We hope you're having a fantastic summer; and can't wait to share more recipes with you!

Stay Cool,

The Cool Dads Crew