One of my favorite dishes in the entire world is the Farfalle with Chicken and Roasted Garlic from Cheesecake Factory, but years ago I found out it was one of the worst meals anywhere you can eat from a calorie perspective. I’m pretty sure it’s loaded with heavy cream and all kinds of deliciousness. But it was like 1500+ calories! Yikes! Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago where I was watching The Kitchen and they were talking about using whipped cream cheese as a hack and I was intrigued! So I decided to hop in the kitchen and whip out what I thought would be pretty good replica.
Here is how I made it:
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1 lb Chicken Tenders
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1 Package Sliced Mushrooms (I used Button – but baby bellas would be yummy!)
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1 Cup Frozen Peas
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1 Cup Chicken Stock
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1/3 Cup Whipped Cream Cheese
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1/2 LB of Farfalle Pasta
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1 TSP Italian Seasoning
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2 TBSP Flat Leaf Parsley
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1/3 Cup Half & Half
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2 TBSP Butter
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EVOO
Serves 4
Cut Chicken into 1 inch cubes. Salt and Pepper. Add 1 TBSP of butter and 1 TBSP of EVOO to the pan and brown chicken. Remove. Add 1 TBSP of butter and 1 TBSP of EVOO and sauté the mushrooms.
Once complete, add chicken stock, cream cheese, Italian seasoning and chicken back to pan. Let sauce thicken slightly for 5 mins and add peas and half & half. Add in cooked Farfalle and garnish with parsley. At this point, if it the sauce seems a little thin, turn off the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes and it should thicken up. If it seems too thick, use a little of the starchy pasta water to thin it out.
Since I made this on the fly, we’ve tested it a couple of times to make sure it’s still yummy. Enjoy!
Whitney @ Work it Mommy says
Oh my word, YUM!
Minus the mushrooms, this looks and sounds delicious. I'll remove those and give this a try!
GAH!! YUM! This looks amazing!
This sounds delicious. One of my greatest tragedies in life is that my husband hates mushrooms!!! I LOVE them though! He's away for work a few times this month so I am definitely going to add this to my menu when he's gone!
This looks delicious! (minus the mushrooms 🙂
OH YUM! Thanks so much! I am saving this one.
Pasta like this is always a winner at my house. Thanks for sharing!