zesty penne with sausage and peppers

Colleen's Take: "My mother in law put this recipe in front of me and told me to cook it, it was an all around crowd pleaser, we ended up using Jimmy Deans sausage because italian was sold out at the store (what's up with that). I think that this would be great for vegetarians too (just omit the sausage), the touch of cream cheese at the end made it so rich!" 

what you need

3

cups  penne pasta, uncooked

1

lb.  Italian sausage

1

 each green and red pepper, cut into thin strips

1

jar  (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce

1

tsp.  fennel seed

Dash  crushed red pepper

4

oz.  (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed

1/4

cup  KRAFT Shredded Parmesan Cheese

make it

COOK pasta as directed on package.

MEANWHILE, crumble sausage into large skillet; cook and stir on medium heat 8 min. or until done. Drain. Add peppers; cook and stir 5 min. or until crisp-tender. Stir in next 3 ingredients; cook 5 min. or until heated through. Add cream cheese; cook 2 min. or until melted, stirring frequently.

DRAIN pasta. Add to sausage mixture; mix lightly. Top with Parmesan.

my youngest chowing down on it!

Recipe sourced from kraft