Both my kids love pasta, so this was sure to be a hit and it was. This is a great meal for all the family and so easy to make too and you can pretty much add whatever veggies you have. Hope you all enjoy!!

Creamy Vegetable Pasta Bake

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 250g of uncooked pasta (I used tri-coloured farfalle)
• 1 small onion
• 1 small courgette
• 100g of mushrooms
• 2 cloves of garlic crushed
• 1 cup of passata
• 1 cup of no salt chicken stock
• splash of balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup of sweetcorn
• 1/4 cup of peas
• couple of fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 tablespoon of mixed Italian herbs
• 70g of cream cheese
• 1 medium sized ripe tomato, sliced
• 120g of mozzarella
• olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 200c or 400f (gas mark 6)

Drizzle a frying pan over a medium high heat with olive oil, add the onion, garlic, mushrooms and courgette and cook until softened.

Add the passata, chicken stock, basil, herbs and balsamic vinegar.  Bring to the boil and then simmer for approx 10 mins. Add a little more water if needed, if the sauce reduces too much.

Add the cream cheese to a bowl and add to it a few spoonsfuls of the sauce. Whisk until smooth. Pour this back into the sauce and stir until it is all mixed in.

In the meantime, add your pasta to a saucepan of hot water and cook till Al Dente (avoid overcooking, you want the pasta to still have a bite to it).

Add the pasta to the sauce, along with the peas and sweetcorn and mix all ingredients together

Transfer pasta mix to a oven proof dish.

Top with the slices of tomatoes and the mozzarella cheese.

Bake in the oven till cheese has melted and is golden. Approx 20-30 mins