spring veggie pasta with herbed cream cheese sauce

It was a dark and stormy night....No really it was.   Our first big storm of the season.  It was really quite scary, and it kept me up most of the night.  Before the storm came in full force it was really a quite pleasant, if not windy evening.  I had fresh spring vegetables calling my name and the family was in the mood for pasta.  I love pasta.

   My husband and son are both very partial to cream sauce on their pasta, I like little or no sauce, but it was a make the men happy night so I made a herbed cream cheese sauce. Well I didn't so much MAKE it, I used pre-made herb cream cheese.  It really is a nice yummy short cut to a fast dinner.  Make your own if you like, but when a storm is blowing in, and you want dinner in a hurry before the electricity goes out, I'll take the short cut.

Here's what I did.
1/2 a bag whole wheat bow tie pasta and 1/2 a bag white bow tie pasta ( I just like the mix)
2 leeks white and light green parts sliced
1/2 a bag of "Quorn meatless and soy free chick'n tenders"  ( I love Quorn products)
as much asparagus, fresh green beans as you like a cup each was good for me
1 crookneck squash cut bite sized
salt and pepper to taste
1 6oz package of herb cream cheese (like Rondele)
a handful of fresh basil, rolled and then sliced
about 3/4 cups (more or less as you like) cherry tomatoes, I used orange ones because I had them

First I softened the leeks and browned the Quorn chick'n in some olive oil, took about 10 minutes
And in another pot cook the pasta in salted water.

I added the other vegetables.  Use what you have in the fridge at this step, peas, zucchini, broccoli, colored peppers, I don't think you could really go wrong as long as the veg is fresh and yummy.
  Saute for another 5-10 minutes on med heat, until the veggies were firm but tender and cooked through.
  I then removed pasta from water with a spider and place into veggie mix pan.  Or you can drain the pasta in a colander, reserving some pasta water to thin out sauce if needed.  Stir all together, check for seasoning add salt and pepper if needed.

  Now you want to stir in your cream cheese,  I scooted everything to the side of the pan, put the cream cheese in the middle so it could melt and then stirred everything together.  I  used a little bit of pasta water also.

  Plate your pasta in a nice big shallow bowl if desired, or just garnish in the pan you cooked it up in. 
Garnish with the basil and sliced tomatoes.

   A nice spring pasta on a stormy night. Just add wine and candles. :-)  

Happy Eating