Thank you to Kraft Foods for offering me the opportunity to recreate a recipe with PHILADELPHIA Cooking Creme. Please click here to learn more about all the PHILADELPHIA Cooking Creme flavors and recipes.
If you think anything like me, you’ve probably seen the borage of commercials for Philadelphia’s Cooking Creme and thought “what the heck is cooking creme”? I sure did.
Is it cream? Is it cream cheese? Is it sauce? I didn’t have a clue. Frankly I didn’t care either. It sounded kind of gross.
Then I had the opportunity to try it. Now, under normal circumstances this is probably a product I’d avoid. I’m not the most advanced cook in the world, but I try to avoid processed ingredients when I’m cooking at home. I’d prefer to save my ration of processed foods for eating out…delicious things like onion rings and nachos that just taste better when someone else makes them.
But lately I’ve been grasping at straws trying to come up with ideas and the time to make dinner. I’d rather take a short cut in my cooking than eat out or order in every night.
So I whipped up a big batch of fettuccine one morning {yes, morning…it’s when I had the time!} When dinner time rolled around I tossed in some shrimp and a load of chopped veggies: broccoli, sundried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts. I stirred in some Savory Lemon & Herb cooking creme and dinner was done.
Although I agreed it was a delicious dinner I was rather insulted when the husband said it was one of my better meals since I barely did any cooking. Grrr.
Turns out “cooking cream” is similar to a softer, smoother flavored cream cheese. I think it’d work well in a lot of savory dishes you might already use cream cheese in with an easy flavor twist, like crock pot chicken or an easy alfredo.
If you like cooking from scratch this probably isn’t the product for you, but if you like to make homemade meals that still come together in a matter of minutes, then this is a perfect solution.
Kraft provided this recipe for shrimp and broccoli fettuccine.To jazz things up a little I added sundried tomatoes {I’m not a raw tomato fan!} and artichoke hearts.
Shrimp & Broccoli Fettuccine
Prep Time: 20 min
Keywords: entree
Ingredients (serves 4)
¼ lb. fettuccine, uncooked
1 cup broccoli florets
¾ lb. frozen cooked cleaned medium shrimp, thawed
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tub (10 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Savory Lemon & Herb Cooking Creme
¼ cup milk
¼ cup chopped tomatoes
Instructions
Cook pasta in large saucepan as directed on package, omitting salt and adding broccoli for the last 3 min. Drain; keep warm.
Cook and stir shrimp and garlic in large nonstick skillet on medium heat 2 to 3 min. or until shrimp are heated through. Add cooking creme and milk; cook and stir 2 min.
Add pasta to shrimp mixture; mix lightly. Top with tomatoes.
Serving Suggestion: Serve with a mixed green salad tossed with your favorite KRAFT Light Dressing.
Variation: Prepare as directed, substituting 3/4 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips, for the shrimp and increasing the cooking time to 6 to 7 min. or until chicken is done. Add cooking creme and milk; continue as directed.
Nutrition Information Per Serving: 340 calories, 11g total fat, 6g saturated fat, 1350mg sodium, 31g carbohydrate, 28g protein
Thank you again to Kraft Foods for sponsoring this blog post. I was selected as one of 20 bloggers by Technorati Media and Clever Girls Collective to participate in the Kraft Foods PHILADELPHIA Cooking Creme signature recipes campaign. While I have been compensated for my time and received the product, my opinions and experiences are my own.
For some reason I’ve been craving sun dried tomatoes and kale pasta. Instead of serving the husband the same thing over and over again, I thought I’d mix it up a little.
Sundried tomatoes are the perfect thing to add to any pasta dish because they make it taste like it was a lot of work. Shhh nobody has to know!
I’d gotten it in my head that I was going to make sundried tomato orzo, but at the last minute switched it up to Israeli couscous instead. This makes the entire dish a total discrepancy, as I normally hate both tomatoes and couscous. But make them sundried and make it Israeli, and I love it.
Israeli couscous is really just tiny balls of pasta. Very similar to how orzo is just rice-shaped pasta.
So if you want a super easy dish that tastes like you worked really hard on it, give this a try. Just don’t tell anyone my secret- that it’s super quick and easy.
I made a rookie, rookie mistake. I forgot I was cooking pasta instead of a grain. Aka it didn’t magically expand and double. Therefore, we were hungry diners. Thank goodness for garlic bread, peaches, and ice cream.
I’d suggest this serving size as a side dish for 2 people. Otherwise, at least double the recipe.
I’d been hanging on to a card for complimentary Crispy Calamari since I went to the Carrabba’s Tastemaker event umm…last August. {The event incidentally was a ton of fun- we got to learn how they make some of their signature pasta’s like the Tag Pic Pac and Penne Franco.}
Anyways, we cashed in the coupon and along with some pasta, salad, and bread, we were all set for a delicious anniversary dinner. What’s better than great food in the comfort of your own home that you didn’t have to cook?? That’s what I was thinking.
It ended up taking two trips up to Carrabba’s to actually get our whole meal, but once we finally had all the food in our hands it was a delicious meal.
The calamari was good, but after a few bites it was too salty for me to handle. Everything else was fantastic though. We had one of their summer pasta specials, the Pasta Rambo {and no, I didn’t get it just because it has an awesome name…though it does.}
The Pasta Rambo was thick linguine with shrimp, sautéed mushrooms, and tomatoes in a lemon basil butter sauce. The shrimp in the pasta were cooked perfectly, and the light sauce was perfect for the dish.
I could probably eat a whole week’s worth of meals of just Carrabba’s Caesar salad and bread- their dipping oil spice blend is by far my favorite of any restaurant.
I can’t wait to dig into the leftovers for lunch, although there’s not much left.
When the husband and I first got married, we were living in a tiny one bedroom apartment and didn’t know anyone in town. I thought it was the absolute greatest thing that now I got to plan meals, grocery shop, and cook dinner every night. {I had no idea how old that’d get.}
I’d gotten a cookbook as a wedding gift and there was one recipe in particular I couldn’t wait to try out. It was some kind of pasta dish starring sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese. What’s not to love about that?
{Please do not ask why I like the sundried variety of the horrible fruit that is a tomato. It’s a purely inexplicable phenomenon.}
So hear I am, newly married, thinking going to the grocery store and shopping for dinner ingredients is just the best thing ever. I pick up some pasta, a jar of sundried tomatoes, a log of goat cheese, garlic, wine, and a few other ingredients the recipe called for.
I came home all proud of myself and got to cooking. As I set two plates down on the coffee table in front of the couch {totally high class, I know}, I beamed with pride and picked up my fork in excitement.
It was the worst meal I’d ever created. Even the husband strayed from his lowest critique of “it’s not the best thing you’ve ever made” to a flat out agreement that it was indeed, gross.
To this day, I don’t know if it’s because I used cheap wine, the wrong kind of tomatoes or cheese, or if I was just a really bad recipe follower- I’ve never attempted to make it again.
Instead, when I want sundried tomatoes and pasta, I go simple. Super simple.
Sundried Tomato and Massaged Kale Chips over Angel Hair
Whole wheat angel hair pasta
Sundried tomatoes in oil
Kale
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Pepper
Fresh basil
So simple there’s no need for measurements- just use as much or as little as you like of any ingredient, and adjust to how many people you’re serving.
Cook pasta according to directions.
Rip kale into small pieces and drizzle with lemon juice. Massage kale leaves with your hands for a few minutes so they start to wilt. {I don’t know why massaged kale is a “thing” but it is…ask any foodie.}
If you like massaged kale, skip the next step. If you’re like me and don’t, bake the kale at 450 for 7-9 minutes until it just starts to crisp and brown, a little shy of how crispy you’d make regular kale chips.
Slice sundried tomatoes and basil into strips.
When pasta is done, drizzle with olive oil and some oil from sundried tomato jar. Stir in sundried tomatoes, kale, and basil. Season with black pepper.
Unlike my first attempt at sundried tomato pasta, this was a success. Two thumbs up on the husband scale.
Well, enough decision-making for one week! Time for something that involves very little thinking- and is one of my favorite go-to-don’t-think meals:
Whole Wheat Linguine with Zucchini in Creamy Vegan Tomato Sauce {Dairy Free}
I don’t even need to give you the recipe anymore- it’s pretty much all in the title.
But I’m going to anyways.
Cook linguine according to package directions. While pasta’s cooking, put tomato paste and diced tomatoes in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Let simmer while you cook the zucchini.
Slice zucchini length wise into long skinny strips; like thick spaghetti!
{You can use zucchini as a pasta replacement if you like; I love it like that as a side dish, but it doesn’t fill me up enough as an entrée. See also: spiralizing veggie noodles}
It looks like a lot, but it’ll cook down.
Season zucchini with salt and pepper and sauté until lightly browned, about 5-7 minutes.
Stir coconut creamer and Italian seasoning into tomato mixture.
Plate warm pasta; top with zucchini strands and tomato sauce.
Top with sliced almonds for a little crunch.
Garlic Bread
Whole grain bread
Dairy free butter {I used Earth Balance}
1 garlic clove; diced
Spread butter on bread; top with diced garlic. Toast for 4-5 minutes. {Told you no thinking was involved.}
Less than 15 minutes later, you have the perfect no-decisions-required dairy free meal.
Whole Wheat Linguine with Zucchini in Creamy Vegan Tomato Sauce
by with a Side of Sneakers
Ingredients
1/2 box whole wheat linguine noodles (or other pasta)
3 oz tomato paste (~ 1/2 small can)
15 oz (1 can) diced tomatoes
3 Tbsp So Delicious coconut creamer (or other dairy free cream)
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 zucchini
salt & pepper
Optional: sliced almonds
Instructions
Cook linguine according to package directions. While pasta’s cooking, put tomato paste and diced tomatoes in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Let simmer while you cook the zucchini.
Slice zucchini length wise into long skinny strips; like thick spaghetti!
Season zucchini with salt and pepper and sauté until lightly browned, about 5-7 minutes.
Stir coconut creamer and Italian seasoning into tomato mixture.
Plate warm pasta; top with zucchini strands and tomato sauce.
