Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake

Ingredients

• Spinach

  Raw

  1 package (10 oz) or 284g

• Chicken breast

  Broilers or fryers, meat only, raw

  1 lb or 454g

• Basil

  Spices, dried

  1 tsp, ground or 1g

• Tomatoes

  Red, ripe, canned, packed in tomato juice

  1 ½ cup or 360g

• Pasta sauce

  Spaghetti/marinara, ready-to-serve

  2 ½ cup or 643g

• Whole wheat pasta

  Dry

  12 oz or 340g

• Cream cheese

  Low fat

  2 tbsp or 30g

• Mozzarella cheese

  Part skim milk

  4 oz or 113g

• Parmesan cheese

  Shredded

  2 tbsp or 10g

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375ºF.
2. Cook pasta in large saucepan as directed on package, omitting salt and adding spinach to the boiling water for the last minute.
3. Meanwhile, cook and stir chicken and basil in large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat 3 min. Stir in tomatoes and pasta sauce; bring to boil. Simmer on medium-low heat 3 min. or until chicken is done, stirring occasionally. Add Neufchatel; cook and stir 1 to 2 min. or until completely melted.
4. Drain pasta mixture; return to pan. Stir in chicken mixture and 1/2 mozzarella; spoon into 2-qt. casserole sprayed with cooking spray.
5. Bake 20 min. or until heated through; top with remaining cheeses. Bake 3 min. or until mozzarella is melted.