Spaghetti a la Philly

A few weeks ago, Philadelphia Cream Cheese invited me to try one of their new recipes: Spaghetti a la Philly. Because I am such a huge lover of spaghetti (I swear I could eat it every day of the week) I was excited to give this recipe a try!

After receiving the recipe from the kind folks at Philly, I grew very intrigued as to how the end result would taste. I absolutely love tomato-based products and thought that by adding cream cheese to the sauce, the spaghetti sauce would be stripped of all its tomato-flavored richness. Boy, was I wrong.

I must admit, we were a little hesitant at first to give this sauce a try. It looked a bit too creamy for our taste plus…cream cheese and pasta sauce combined? Really? But once it went into our mouths, we were completely satisfied. It was very different from sauces I have made in the past, but overall we really enjoyed the taste of the recipe.

As you all know, I only post recipes on here that simplify life in the kitchen and this recipe definitely fits the bill. Plus, it only requires a handful of ingredients which is a huge bonus. If you give this recipe a try (which I highly suggest you do), I know you will love how easy it is to prepare. Plus, there isn’t a lot of cleanup involved since you only need to use two pots!

Spaghetti a la Philly

Ingredients:

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 jar (24 ounces) Prego Traditional Italian Sauce
• 1/2 package (4 ounces) Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese, cut into cubes
• 1/2 package (8 ounces) spaghetti, cooked and drained
• 2 tablespoons Kraft grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Cook the beef in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until well browned, stirring often to separate meat. Pour off any fat.
2. Stir the sauce and cream cheese in the skillet. Reduce the heat to low. Cook for 3 minutes or until the cream cheese is melted, stirring often.
3. Place the spaghetti into a large bowl. Add the beef mixture and toss to coat. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

I added sauteed mushrooms (the one thing that my husband could have done without — he hates mushrooms) and onions to the sauce, as well as Cayenne pepper. This was strictly a matter of personal preference. The additions added a little kick to the overall result and made it very enjoyable. I must admit, we live by the motto “the spicier the better” in my house.

For those who plan on making this recipe, I might suggest adding a few spices here and there (pepper, salt, Italian seasoning, etc.) and maybe a touch of garlic, as well as some sauteed vegetables like I did to turn the flavor up a notch. However, I am confident that the recipe would have tasted great even without my personal touches.

I would like to say that I will make this recipe again but it will be a difficult challenge trying to cook anything but my secret recipe when spaghetti is requested by our dinner guests. I have developed a spaghetti sauce that I find very hard to stray away from when spaghetti is on the dinner menu. However, I never said that I didn’t like a challenge!

As a “thank you,” I received coupons and a cookbook from Philadelphia. I am excited to try some of the recipes found in the cookbook. I know they will taste great, especially since they all include one of my favorite ingredients: Philadelphia Cream Cheese!

To the folks at Philly: Thank you for this great opportunity. I enjoyed the experience and look forward to doing this again!

*You can also watch a how-to video for this recipe here.