Easy Cheesy Ravioli

Easy Cheesy Ravioli (slightly adapted from Kraft Recipes, Total Time: 25 minutes, Servings: 6)

Ingredients

2 pkg.  (9 oz. each) refrigerated cheese ravioli or tortellini

1  red pepper, chopped

1 tub  (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Chive & Onion Cream Cheese Spread

1 cup  frozen peas

1 cup  shredded Italian cheese

Directions

1.)    Cook pasta as directed on package, omitting salt. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water.

2.)    Cook and stir peppers in large nonstick skillet on medium heat 5 min. or until crisp-tender. Add 3/4 cup of the reserved water, cream cheese spread and peas; cook and stir 2 to 3 min. or until cream cheese is melted and peas are heated through.

3.)    Add pasta; stir to evenly coat. If sauce is too thick, thin with remaining reserved cooking water. Top with shredded cheese.

I made a few adjustments to the recipe, but wanted to include the basic information here.  First, I used tortellini instead of ravioli because it was lower in calories and sodium!  I could not find the low fat version of the cream cheese spread, but if your local store has it, go for it.  I used fresh instead of frozen peas because we had them in our CSA bag.  I followed the directions as above, but should have thrown in the fresh peas with the red pepper.  As is, they are quite crunchy (a little too much).  I also did not use the shredded cheese, I don’t feel that the dish really needed it.

Now, on to the taste of the dish.  I thought it was OK, but I didn’t love it.  I did add in some chopped garlic greens in the leftovers and that has really helped the flavor!  My husband liked it as is, so I guess it all depends on your preference for cream cheese (by the way, he also did not add extra cheese, which is a big deal!).  I recommend adding some pepper or garlic if you make this recipe.  If I make it again, I might try one of the other flavored cream cheese, just to see if that works a bit better.