-
1
Meat: (if desired).
-
2
Prepare your meat however you choose and make sure to cook thoroughly. Set off to the side. (I cooked medium sized shrimp in garlic butter for mine).
-
3
Sauce: (first step).
-
4
Add your block of cream cheese and half a stick of butter to a large saute pan. Turn on medium-low heat. Use a large serving spoon to break up the cream cheese into smaller bits as it gets softer. When your stick of butter is about half melted, turn the pan off! The residual heat from the pan will keep melting your butter and cream cheese while your noodles boil. It is important to shut the pan off because the cream cheese can burn quite easily.
-
5
Noodles:
-
6
Most noodle directions say boil for 10 to 12 minutes, I find the 10 minutes is perfect time so your noodles will still have a chance to finish cooking and soak up a bit of the sauce after you add them to the pan. I used medium sized shell noodles but penne or rigatoni work just as well. After draining, return to pan off the heat until ready to add to sauce.
-
7
Sauce: (second step).
-
8
Turn your pan back on medium-low heat and start stirring up your melted cream cheese and butter until the cream cheese is no longer in clumps. It wont melt down entirely, so don't try to cook it too long! The cream cheese and butter won't mix together very well, but this is normal. Now, grab your half and half and add 1/4 to a 1/2 cup in the pan and stir well. Add your parmesan cheese (you can always add more or less to your taste) and stir that in really well until melted. By this time, your sauce will have thickened up quite a bit. Add more half and half little by little until you get the consistency you desire. Dump in your noodles, mix well. You may have to add a bit more half and half at this point to keep it from getting too thick. Last but not least, add your choice of meat into the pan, stir well and turn the temperature to low. Cover, and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep the cream cheese and butter mixed together as much as it can.
-
9
After dishing up, I added some fresh ground black pepper for taste, yum!
