Mushroom and spinach pasta

It’s been one of those days again, work’s been non-stop and feels like your head might be one more question away from exploding. Five o’clock hits “yaaaaas home time”, then you realise that the last question that saved your brain from exploding is away to rear its ugly head “what do I make for dinner?”.

Your brain goes into overdrive as you make your way home, metaphorically searching through the contents of your fridge, freezer and cupboards in a bid to find something to cook the minute you get home.

The above is a regular occurrence for me, but it was on one of these many occasions that I came up with my mushroom and spinach penne recipe.

This inexpensive recipe costs around £2.14 (courtesy of my good pal Aldi), takes around 15 minutes to cook and requires little kitchen utensils meaning a speedy clean up too.

Serving three people, this is ideal for a quick bite with the pals or if you’re not a sharer, you can make this stretch to lunch the next day and then another dinner.

What you need:

175g penne pasta
100g low fat cream cheese
100g spinach
2 cloves of garlic
2 Portobello mushrooms
½ an onion
1 tbsp. Mixed herbs
1 tsp. sunflower oil
Salt and pepper for seasoning

How to make:

Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the penne pasta
While the pasta is cooking, dice the onion, roughly chop the mushrooms, mince the garlic, shred the spinach and add to a saucepan with the oil. Season with the salt, pepper and mixed herbs and cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
Once the mushrooms have darkened and the onion is clear in colour, blitz the contents of the pan for about 2 minutes until smooth to make a sauce. For a sauce with a bite, pulse the contents for around a minute and a half.
Add the cream cheese and mix until melted leaving you with a light grey loose sauce.
By now your pasta should be ready. Drain the pasta, add the sauce and mix well until the sauce evenly coats the pasta.
Plate up and eat.