The Best Baked Penne

Here is the Baked Penne recipe that we served at our Philadelphia Cooking Creme party.

It was by far the favorite of our guests. I was hoping to get a good picture of mine and taste it again, but the Rev polished off the leftovers before I had the chance (He is a good fridge-cleaner-outer like that!). Try this one for sure, you will love it!

Baked Penne

1/2 lb. extra-lean ground beef
*1/2 cup chopped onion
1 jar (24 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1 tub (10 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Italian Cheese and Herb Cooking Creme, divided
1 cup KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
3 cups cooked penne pasta

Heat oven to 350°F.

Brown meat and onions in large nonstick skillet. Stir in spaghetti sauce, 3/4 cup cooking creme and 1/2 cup mozzarella: cook and stir 2 to 3 min. or until mozzarella is melted.

Add pasta; mix lightly.

Spoon into 2-qt. casserole; top with remaining cooking creme and mozzarella. Cover with foil.

Bake 20 min. or until heated through, uncovering after 15 min.

*Original recipe calls for 1/2 cup chopped onion and 1/2 cup chopped green pepper. I omitted the pepper and substituted 2 tablespoons dried minced onions for the fresh chopped onion.