One Skillet Chicken Parmesan Pasta

If you are craving the yumminess of chicken parmesan, but don't want to go through all the work of breading a chicken breast and frying it up (plus it's a lot healthier then going that route too), this is the recipe for you. Made this dish last night for supper and this is going to be one of my new go-to recipes for some obvious reasons:

Look at that melted cheesy goodness!

• It's quick- takes like 20 minutes tops!
• It's easy - everything is cooked in one dish!
• It's tasty - which is the most import thing of all, right!

Ingredients:

8 oz. of your favorite pasta
(I used whole wheat rotini)

1 jar (26oz) spaghetti sauce

2 cups water

2 lbs of cooked chopped chicken
(I cooked/grilled mine on the George Foreman)

1 cup grated parmesan, divided
1 Tbsp. red pepper flakes

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

2 Tbsp. melted butter

1 tsp. garlic powder

2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

 

Directions:

In oven-safe skillet, combine pasta, sauce and water. bring to boil. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer for 15-18 minutes, until pasta is tender.  While the noodles were cooking, this is when I cooked the chicken breast (which cuts the time down), but you could use chicken that has been previously cooked.

 

Stir in chicken and half a cup of the parmesan cheese. Cook over low heat about 5 minutes.

Top pasta with mozzarella cheese.

 

Combine panko, melted butter, remaining parmesan, red pepper flakes and garlic powder. Sprinkle over mozzarella cheese.

 

Place under preheated broiler until bread crumbs are toasted and cheese is melted.  

This is what the finished project looked like!!

 

I can't wait to make this dish again for family & friends cause it is soo f*ck-ing good! (pardon my language).  Hopefully you will love it too!



~Kellie Anne

 

yet another Buffalo Chicken Mac 'n Cheese recipe - Crock-pot style

If your a fan of Pinterest like I am, you know that there are a million, probably closer to a billion recipes floating around on the site.  You may have also noticed all of the recipes for macaroni and cheese on the site; it's crazy how many different ways you can make such a staple food (well it is in our house, I guess).  Yet here I am, going to show you another way that you can make mac 'n cheese with the ever popular ingredient of buffalo wing sauce and made in the crock-pot.  Full of kick and easy to make, it's sure to be a hit in your kitchen!

 
Ingredients:
  4 chicken breast - thawed out and cubed
  1 medium onion - chopped
  1 can of Cream of Chicken
  Frank's Hot Wing Sauce - amount is all based on your love for the spicy-ness
  1 cup sour cream
  1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  1/2 cup ranch dressing
  8 oz of cooked elbow noodles
  Salt & Pepper for taste

  Directions (by pictures):

In a large crock-pot (mine is a 5.5 quart), place the chicken and onion inside.

Combine cream of chicken and wing sauce together.  I used the can from the cream of chicken and used about 3/4 of a can of the wing sauce.  Like stated above its completely up to you on how much of the yummy-goodness (wing sauce) that you'd like to use.

Mix sauce concoction with the chicken & onions; cook on LOW for 6 hours.
 

* * I didn't get a picture of the water boiling or the noodles cooking; but  you all know what that looks like :) **

 

When the noodles are almost done, add the dressing, cheese and sour cream to crock-pot



OMG! It already looks yummy and I haven't even added the noodles yet!!



Noodles have been added and my taste buds are ready to chow down! :)
But wait, once the noodles have been added let everything continue to cook for about 10-15 minutes




Now you can enjoy it! :)
Looks like Aaron is giving this dish a thumbs up and he takes one of his final bites!


I will some day post up the recipe of the Buffalo Chicken Mac 'n Cheese that we also love to eat that is made with a from scratch cheese sauce and done on the stove top and oven-baked.  But for right now, I'm going to add yet another mac 'n cheese recipe to the already growing list on Pinterest! :)

~ Kellie Anne

Something New Sunday - Tuna Noodle Casserole

   I feel awful for not doing a 'Something New Sunday' last week.  Not that I have a lot of followers, but I was doing a really good job of doing a new recipe every Sunday since I had started this blog.  Oh well, today is a new day (and a new week for that matter) so it's time for a new recipe. 
   I have been craving tuna lately and missed the good-ole tuna casserole that I use to have in grade school.  I went to a small town school growing up with really nice lunch ladies, who actually took the time to make good meals for all the kids.  One of my favorite things that we had was the homemade buns. Oh. My. God. Just typing that made me want to go back in time to have some of those biscuits.  Focus Kellie, I'm talking about the tuna casserole that the lunch ladies made, not the delicious biscuits! The casserole was creamy with the noodles and tuna, yet crunchy cause they would top it with potato chips. 
  So, I wanted to try and duplicate the recipe but to add a little more flavor since my taste buds have grown-up since I was a little kid.  Here is my adult, yet kid friendly take on tuna noodle casserole.

 

Tuna Noodle Casserole: 

Ingredients:
8 oz cooked angel hair pasta (you could use spaghetti, linguine or any long pasta of your choice)
2 cans of tuna
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of corn (drained)
1 cup milk
3 tsp. butter
your choice of seasonings
bread crumbs
fried onions

Directions:
  Mix cooked noodles with tuna, soup and corn; I seasoned my dish today with black pepper and garlic salt. Pour into greased 9x13 casserole dish and cover with bread crumbs and french onions.  Drizzle milk and butter over top; cover with tin foil.  Place in preheated 400 degree and cook for 15 minutes. Stir mixture to make sure edges don't burn.  Recover and cook for another 15 minutes, during the last 5 minutes cover casserole with more bread crumbs and fried onions.  This dish is ready to eat once the bread crumbs and fried onions are a nice golden brown. Serve and enjoy this Lent-friendly meal! :)

Review: 
  Well I think I may have found my new calling as a school lunch lady! ;)
 
  No, but seriously this might give the Titonka School District lunch ladies a run for their money.  The noodles are soft, the sauce is creamy and the topping is uber crunchy!  The corn is a nice little touch, since most tuna dishes call for peas (which I would have loved to add, but Aaron doesn't like peas).  The dish makes probably 8 small portion servings, which is nice to have leftovers for both of us to take to work.  This dish is quite tasty and doesn't need a lot of seasonings, but Aaron suggested maybe some Old Bay seasonings next time.

  The next time I do make this recipe, I will add a little more milk and shorten the cooking time by 5 minutes or so.  Aaron thought it was fine between the mouthful of bites that he kept shoveling in.  Though he might have enjoyed it, I thought it was still dry and as the cook I like to make sure my recipes are perfect no matter who's eating it. 

Please let me know what you think! :)

~Kellie Anne


Close up of the yummy-goodness :)

Something New Sunday - Lasagna w/ White Sauce

 "The trouble with eating Italian food is that 5 or 6 days later you're hungry again." George Miller, British writer

 

This is EXACTLY how I felt after I got done eating this new crock-pot recipe and the breadsticks I made to go with it were the perfect "Italian" touch.

Lasagna with White Sauce

Ingredients:
 1 - 8 oz box of lasagna noodles; cooked & drained
 1 - pound ground beef
 1 - chopped onion
 1 - 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
 1 - can of tomato sauce
 1 - beef bouillon cube (I used beef bouillon granules since I didn't have cubes)
 1 1/2 teaspoons - Italian seasoning
 1 1/2 teaspoons - black pepper
 1 teaspoon - salt
 1/2 teaspoons - red pepper
White Sauce:
 2 tablespoons - melted butter or margarine
 3 tablespoons - all purpose flour
 2 cups - milk
 1 cup - mozzarella cheese
 1 teaspoon - black pepper
 1 teaspoon - garlic powder

Directions:
   Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 5 minutes; drain. (I used the non-boiling, ready to use lasagna noodles and it still turned out yummy).  Brown ground beef and onion together, until onion is tender and beef is no longer pink in center; drain.  Mix in tomatoes, tomato sauce, bouillon and seasonings (I opted out the salt, since I'm trying to cut back salt in all my cooking recipes). Pour in bottom of crock-pot and layer lasagna noodles on top (I had to break the noodles to cover the meat).
   Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix together melted butter, flour, milk, cheese, pepper and garlic powder.  Cover the white sauce over top the noodles.
   Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 6 hours or on HIGH for 2 to 3 hours.  In the last 30 minutes, turn crock-pot to HIGH (if cooking on LOW) and top with more mozzarella cheese.  Serve when cheese is melted.  Serves 10 to 12

Well, I just finished up cleaning up the dishes and let me tell you, this meal was delicious! The meat sauce was delicious (and a lot healthier then using processed spaghetti sauce) and surprisingly the white sauce was really great (and might be seen in more recipes).  I was worried during the whole time the dish was cooking that the noodles wouldn't cook properly, but I was so wrong; they were soft but crunchy on the edges like my mom's lasagna was growing up.  Mine was cooked on LOW for about 4 hours and then on KEEP WARM mode for about 45 minutes, cause the edges were starting to brown.  30 minutes before serving, I turned it back to LOW and topped it with cheese; so total cooking time for me was little less then 5.5 hours.  My parents joined my boyfriend and I for the meal and they both agreed it was superb and my dad even went back for 'thirds'.  This will definitely be a repeat dish.

Today was actually a two recipe Something New Sunday, as I made Pesto Breadsticks (seen in picture above), but it's getting late so I will try post that recipe tomorrow. 

Goodnight Folks and Enjoy!!

~Kellie Anne