Cheese Cheese Cheesey Cheese

So I'm only a few posts in, and I've already put my love (obsession?) for Italian food on display.  Pasta? Delicious.  Italian sausage? Maybe my favorite protein choice.  However, I have been faced with a problem lately.  I can't seem to find a pasta sauce that I like.

Even if the rest of the meal is perfect, a so-so sauce can completely ruin the meal. I've tried a bunch of different brands, different flavors, but I still haven't found a really good pasta sauce.  I could make my own sauce, but that tends to take a long time.  When I get home after work, I'm hungry! I don't want to wait for a sauce to develop flavor.  So the solution is... compromise.  I found a pasta bake that looks delicious and starts off with a regular pasta sauce with a few added ingredients to spice it up a little bit.  So I gave it a try.

I'm amazed how adding a few ingredients can make a sauce taste so much better! The recipe I found adds Neufchatel to the sauce, which gives it a nice creamy flavor and texture. The original recipe calls for chicken, but I subbed Italian sausage because, as I mentioned earlier, it is probably my favorite type of meat.  Delicious.  With three different types of cheeses, this hearty pasta bake is the perfect dinner after a hard day at work (and then again the next day for lunch!).  Definitely making this again!  Recipe after the jump.

Mangia!

My favorite type of food HAS to be Italian.  Well, besides dessert, but does that really count?  Real food never stood a chance.

I don't know if my love of Italian food comes from growing up in an Italian family or just its pure deliciousness, but I know I can always fall back on something Italian when I'm trying to figure out what to eat that night.  There's something really comforting about the combination of carbs and cheese, which are ubiquitous in Italian dishes.
Even more, I really like the flexibility that Italian dishes give you.  Start with your basic carb, pasta.  You can dress that pasta up to whatever your taste is that day.  Want a standard meal? Go with a tomato based sauce.  Want something a little heartier?  Add a cheesy, creamy alfredo sauce.  Craving something light?  Try a citrusy lemon based sauce.  Looking for a fresh herb flavor?  Enjoy a delicious pesto sauce.  Add in your choice of vegetables and proteins, and you have an endless number of possibilities to satisfy whatever tastes you might have that night!

So naturally, Italian came to mind as I was deciding what to have for dinner tonight. I went with a classic, penne and meatballs.  However, I mixed it up a little by using ground turkey to make my meatballs.  Overall, I liked it, but I think I'll probably stick with ground beef in the future.  I added these to some penne with a four cheese pasta sauca, and voila! Delicious.  Recipe after the jump!