Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake

I made this really easy dish the other night.  We were heading out of town the next day, so I gave the leftovers to my sister, Denise.  A few hours later, she texted me that she had to have the recipe.  That is always a good sign, so I'm posting it here.  I don't remember where I got this recipe, some website, probably, but I changed it a little.

I've prepared the chicken for this dish several different ways.  I've cut it up and browned it like the recipe calls for, but found that it was flavorful, yet to dry.  I've also boiled chicken and shredded it, but that didn't have enough flavor.  So this time, I used a Rotisserie chicken from Costco.  They now sell it in packaged form with just the meat already shredded.  Yea!  All of the flavor and none of the work!  I will always use that chicken if I have it from now on. I just tossed it in a skillet with the basil to heat it up and incorporate the basil flavoring better. 

Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake

1 ½ cups penne pasta, uncooked

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tsp. dried basil
1 jar (14 ½ oz) spaghetti sauce
1 can (14 ½ oz) diced tomatoes, drained
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

Heat oven to 375°. Cook pasta as directed. In large skillet, cook chicken and basil on medium-high heat for 3 minutes. Add spaghetti sauce and tomatoes; bring to boil and then simmer for 3 more minutes or until chicken is done. Stir in cream cheese. Drain pasta and add to chicken mixture with ½ cup Mozzarella. Spoon into dish. Bake for 20 mins. Sprinkle with remaining Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses and bake for an additional 3 minutes.

Results: My family really likes this dish.  It comes together quickly and is really yummy and creamy.  And, according to Denise, it makes great leftovers as well!

Iron Chef America (and really really good Zupa)

For a youth group activity, our church held our very own "Iron Chef America".  The youth were divided into teams of 5 or 6, were given a secret ingredient that had to be used in their dish, and were assigned to go to various designated houses in the neighborhood to cook a dish in under an hour.  We signed up to help, so we had a team come to our house.  The secret ingredient was potatoes and extra points were given if the dish was Italian.  Potatoes and Italian?  We couldn't think of anything good right away, but after looking in some of my cookbooks, we settled on Zupa.  It is a delicious creamy soup with Italian sausage and potatoes in it.  We tweeked the recipe a little bit to mimick the dish from one of my favorite restaurants, Gabor Brothers.  Their Zupa is wonderful, and I think ours just might match it in flavor.  We had to use what we had on hand, but I would have added spinach for added color and flavor if I would have had any.

I feel bad that I didn't take any pictures of the kids cooking their hearts out in my kitchen.  We were all having so much fun and trying to beat the clock (just like the TV show), that I failed to snap any photos of the kids, just the final result.

Zupa Tuscana Soup

1 lb. spicy Italian sausage, crumbled

1/2 lb. smoked bacon, chopped

1 quart water

2 (14.5 oz.) cans chicken broth

2 large russet potatoes, scrubbed clean and cubed

2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

1 cup heavy whipping cream

3/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown sausage, breaking into small pieces as you cook.  Rinse and set aside (if you don't rinse, the soup will have a red tint to it).  In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown bacon, drain adn set aside.  Place water, broth, potatoes, garlic, and onion in soup pot.  Simmer over medium heat until potatoes are tender.  Add sausage and bacon.  Simmer for 10 minutes and then add cream and cheese.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Heat through.

Results: The youth took most of the soup with them for judging, but left me a little and it was AMAZING!!  This soup is definitely going in my recipe book...I'm almost a little sad that soup season is nearly over (I said almost!).  As a side note, our youth team took third place with this dish (I think there were at least a dozen teams who participated).  Not bad for spur of the moment, huh?  I'm very proud of my Iron Chefs!!

Little Taste of Italy

On Sunday evenings, we love getting together with family. Last Sunday was no exception. My little sister made a request for my Fettuccine Alfredo. I aim to please, so we made it Italian night at my house. I'm going to post four different recipes that I made that night, but on separate posts, so they are labeled correctly.

The first one is my Fettuccine Alfredo. I found it years ago in a restaurant's secret cookbook. It is supposedly Olive Garden's version. I tweeked it a little and my family has been enjoying it ever since. I make it on those nights that I don't have a lot of time because it comes together in the same amount of time as it takes to cook the noodles. Throw together a quick salad and you're good to go!

Fettuccine Alfredo

½ cup butter
2-3 T. flour
2 cups heavy cream
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. ground black pepper
1 (12oz) box fettuccine pasta
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour until smooth. Add the cream, garlic powder, and pepper, and simmer or 10-12 minutes, or until thick. At the same time, bring 4-6 quarts water to a boil and add the pasta. When sauce has reached your desired consistency, stir in the Parmesan cheese (let sauce sit off heat for a few minutes to thicken). When the pasta is cooked, drain and serve with sauce.

Results: Always a winner at my house! It's SO good if you are making a red sauce and you mix the two together...Heaven!

Little Taste of Italy, Part 2

For our Sunday dinner meal, I also made a wonderful traditional Spaghetti sauce. This recipe comes from one of my moms (I'm lucky enough to have several moms!). She will make this sauce and let it "sit and be happy" all day long. Mmmmm. I didn't have any mushrooms on hand (my husband is extremely anti-fungal), so I left those out, and I used mild pork sausage instead of ground beef (gotta use up Porky!). As I said in the above post, mixing this sauce with the Alfredo sauce was wonderful! I served it with cheese filled ravioli that I purchased at Costco.

Mom's Spaghetti Sauce

2 T. olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced and smashed
½ lb. mushrooms, sliced
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 6 oz. Italian style tomato paste
1 medium green pepper, diced
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
½ cup parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper

Cook onion and garlic over medium heat until soft and set aside. Cook ground beef and add salt and pepper. Drain off fluid. Add in onion mix and remaining ingredients. Stir well until tomato paste is well dispersed. Season well. Simmer with lid off for 45 minutes to an hour over medium low heat and serve with spaghetti.

Results: I really liked the sausage in this sauce! I'm not an avid sausage lover, so that's saying a lot. The longer you let it cook, the better it gets! (I made lasagna with the leftover sauce the next day, and WOW, it was good!)

Little Taste of Italy, Part 3

For an appetizer for our Sunday meal, I made a killer Spinach Artichoke Dip. Now, there are about a million Spinach dips out there, but this one is my favorite out of all of the ones I've tried. I'm guessing this is the case because mine doesn't have mayonnaise in it, only cream cheese. I'm of the opinion that most things, if not everything is better with cream cheese! This is super easy to make, and can be reheated throughout the evening (if it lasts that long)!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

1 cup chopped artichoke hearts, not marinated
½ cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed
8 oz. cream cheese
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
¼ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
Pepper
Sliced, toasted bread and celery sticks

Boil spinach and artichoke hearts in water in a small saucepan over medium heat until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain in a colander when done. Heat the cream cheese in a small bowl in the microwave set on high for one minute. Add the spinach and artichoke hearts to the cream cheese and stir well. Add the remaining ingredients to the cream cheese and combine. Serve hot with bread.

Results: This is always a winner. We eat it with sliced baguettes and usually we eat so much that we aren't hungry for the meal! So creamy and cheesy (I usually double the Parmesan that it calls for!)

Little Taste of Italy, Part 4

So, I hope you are not counting how many calories we've consumed from the previous three posts, because you haven't read this post yet. Take my advice and just don't think about it. All of these recipes are good, just maybe not the best for you. But that's OK every once in a while. (Just so everyone knows, my mom brought a very healthy and delicious salad to enjoy with our meal that night!)

My final recipe from Sunday dinner is my other mom's cheesy garlic bread. Oooooh yeah! It has more cream cheese (see a theme here?) and is just so good. My mom has been making it for years, and my mouth always waters when I think about it!

Cream Cheese Garlic Bread

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
½ cube butter, softened
1 tsp. garlic powder
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
Parsley flakes
French Bread

Slice French bread and place on cookie sheet. Combine cream cheese, butter, and garlic powder in bowl until combined. Stir in ¼ cup cheese and parsley flakes. Spread cheese mixture over each slice of bread and top with remaining cheese. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Results: Um, yeah, it was SO good! You dip it in the Spaghetti sauce and you are in bliss!