I had a serious carb craving last night; 5 PM hit at work and pasta was all I could think about.  I was looking for something that was a little different, but still easy enough for a weeknight and was one happy lady when I found this Spinach Artichoke Pasta recipe from Budget Bytes.  I made a couple of tweaks based on what I had at home (used cream cheese instead of neufchatel and left out the hot sauce because I couldn’t get the damn bottle open) and it was still totally delicious.  Plus any recipe that calls for wine is pretty much the perfect excuse to open a bottle and relax with a nice big glass.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic
• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1/4 c. white wine
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1/2 c. grated parmesan
• 1 can (14 oz.) artichoke hearts
• 10 oz. chopped spinach
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• pasta
• salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Get your water boiling for the pasta – cook pasta until al dente
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet and cook garlic for 1-2 minutes until slightly tender
3. Add cream cheese, sour cream and wine – stir until everything is combined
4. Add milk and parmesan cheese and stir until cheese has melted – reduce heat and add  thawed & drained spinach
5. Drain artichokes and roughly chop – add to the sauce with red pepper flakes and salt + pepper to taste
6. Serve the sauce over pasta