Chicken Spinach Pasta Bake

Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake

from My Life Well Loved

Prep time:  30 minsCook time:  45 minsTotal time:  1 hour 15 mins Ingredients

• 8 oz uncooked mafalda noodles or rigatoni

• 1 T olive oil

• 1 c chopped onion

• 1 (10 oz) pack frozen spinach, thawed

• 3 c cubed, cooked chicken breasts (I cheated and bought diced chicken at the salad bar)

• 1 (14 oz) can Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained

• 1 (8 oz) container chive & onion cream cheese

• ½ t salt, ½ t pepper

• 1½ c shredded mozzarella cheese + 1/2 c to sprinkle over the top

Instructions

1. Prepare mafalda according to package directions.
2. Spread oil on bottom of 11×7 in baking dish; add onion in a single layer.
3. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes or just until tender.
4. Transfer onion to large bowl, set aside.
5. Drain chopped spinach well, pressing between paper towels.
6. Stir in rigatoni, spinach, chicken, & next 4 ingredients into onion in bowl.
7. Spoon mixture into baking dish and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella.

Bake covered at 375 for 30 minutes and uncovered for the last 15 minutes.

Honey Mustard Chicken

This is the most simple, tasty meal!

Ingredients:

2 pounds of your favorite chicken pieces
frozen cobs of corn (buy the ones that are in smaller pieces)
1 bottle of honey mustard salad dressing

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a sprayed 9X13 pan, place the chicken and top with the little corn cobs. Drizzle the whole bottle of honey mustard over the top. Salt and pepper to your liking. Cover with aluminum foil and cook for 30 minutes. Uncover and cook an additional 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Stuffing Bake

This is truly a comfort food that you cannot stop eating. The kind of food where you sit at the table, sigh, and say I have absolutely no more room and then go scoop up another plateful!! I hope you enjoy it. I actually came up with this one on my own by combining two recipes... and yum-o!! Peas optional.

Chicken Stuffing Bake

Ingredients:

1 (4 1/2 oz.) jar sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sliced celery

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 1/4 cups ranch dressing

2/3 cup water

1 box of stove top stuffing

1/3 cup dried cranberries

3 cups chopped cooked chicken (I used rotisserie)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 can evaporated milk

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9X13 baking dish. Drain mushrooms, reserving liquid, set aside. Melt 1/4 c. butter over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add celery and onion and saute until soft. Remove from heat and stir in dressing, water, and mushroom liquid. Stir in stuffing mix and cranberries until thoroughly moistened. In a separate bowl, mix soup with evaporated milk. In a baking dish, layer chicken and cheese. Top with soup mixture. Cover evenly with stuffing mixture. Melt the remaining 1/4 cup of butter and pour over the top. Cover loosely with foil and bake for 40 minutes until cooked through and bubbly.

I dare you not to over eat this one... it is probably in my top 5 favorite meals!!

Chicken Parmesan

For this recipe I actually combined two from pinterest that we liked. The originals came from here and here.

Baked Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients:  4 (about 8 oz each) chicken breast, fat trimmed, sliced in half to make 8

3/4 cup seasoned Italian breadcrumbs

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp butter, melted (or olive oil)

3/4 cup mozzarella cheese

1 cup marinara

cooking spray

White Cheese Sauce

(This puts it over the edge and makes it taste like the Stonehouse's)

Ingredients:

Angel Hair pasta

2 Tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons garlic, finely chopped

1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese

1/4 cup shredded fontina cheese (can be substituted with Gouda... thank you Google!)

1 tsp basil

Salt and white pepper to taste

1/3 cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 450°. Combine breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese in a bowl. Melt the butter in another small bowl. Lightly brush the butter onto the chicken, then dip into breadcrumb mixture. Place on lightly greased baking sheet and repeat with the remaining chicken. Lightly spray the chicken with a little Pam and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

 Cook the angel hair pasta, too! Don't drain the pasta completely. Leaving a little starch water from the cooking will help it not to stick. Spraying it lightly with Pam will also help!

(Cheese Sauce) Meanwhile, shred the cheeses, if you haven't done so already. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Whisk in flour until it thickens and bubbles, then whisk in milk and Dijon. Continue to whisk mixture and cook until slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes. (If you don't keep the sauce moving in the pan it will burn!) 
Combine Gruyere and fontina, then add by the handful to milk mixture, stirring until melted before adding the next handful. Once all cheese is melted, add basil, salt and pepper. Turn the burner to low to keep it warm! Stir frequently!

* If you need to pull out the chicken or drain your pasta partway through cooking the sauce, just remove it from the heat and pop it back on when you can watch it!

Turn chicken over, bake another 5 minutes. Remove from oven, spoon 1 tbsp sauce over each piece of chicken and top each with 1 1/2 tbsp of shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted.

 Pour cheese sauce over the angel hair pasta and top with Chicken Parmesan.
Enjoy!

Crock Pot Chicken Wings

It's been awhile since I shared a dinner recipe, because it's tax season for my honey and we tend to do the old reliables because it's easier. We were trying to clean out our freezer and found some frozen chicken drumsticks. Yes, it was that bad... in fact it was a risk opening the door!! I went on Pinterest and found this recipe from Crockin' Moms.

5 lb. chicken wings
2 c. brown sugar
1 c. French's mustard
4 tbsp. soy sauce

Cut each wing into 3 pieces - throw away the tip. Brown in skillet until golden brown and put in slow cooker, turn on low heat. Mix brown sugar, mustard and soy sauce in saucepan and heat until it becomes liquid. Pour over the wings and cook 2- 8 hours.

As you can see there is nothing to it!! I simply substituted with the chicken drumsticks. It was VERY yummy... I kept grabbing pieces with a fork leading up to dinner!

Enjoy!

One Dish Chicken

I got this recipe on Pinterest. It is super easy and very good!

4 raw chicken breasts, 6 new potatoes, 3-4 can green beans (fresh or canned-really any green veggie would work. Broccoli is good, too). Arrange in 9x13 dish. Sprinkle with 2 packets of Italian dressing mix and then top with a half stick of melted butter. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Serves 4-5.

It's probably the butter that puts it over the top! Enjoy!!