Category: Pasta

Creamy Chicken and Bacon Bake

Leftovers/ Freezer Meals, Pasta

Evening, folks! So tonight is the last night of freedom. School starts tomorrow and I will be pulled in lots of directions;  mom, teacher, chauffeur, etc. It will be great, and I will be a little glad to be back in the routine of it all, but I will always mourn summer’s ending.

Tonight, I made this yummy dinner for my family. Everyone loved it! Lots of leftovers for the week. I hope you will give it a try!

Creamy Chicken and Bacon Bake

Ingredients
1 package of pasta- I used Rotini
About 2 cups Alfredo sauce- homemade or jarred- I used a combo of each- After I mixed everything together, I found it a little dry, so I eyeballed some extra parm and heavy cream plus a bit of pasta water.
2 chicken breasts- You could also use leftover or rotisserie here to save time.
5 strips of cooked bacon, chopped
6 slices or 2 cups shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1/4 stick cubed butter

Directions

Boil pasta water with plenty of salt. Cook pasta a little under, about 8 minutes.
Cut up your chicken in bite sized pieces and brown in a pan. Add in sauce and chopped bacon.
Stir in cooked pasta to Alfredo mixture.
Spray casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.
Add everything in the casserole dish.
Add cheese, then breadcrumbs, then cubed butter on top of your pasta mixture. Bake at 350 until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

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One Pot Wonder… Chili-Mac

Beef, One pot meal, Pasta

Evening fellow food bloggers and lurkers! Today was my first day back at school. I drug my heels all the way, but I guess I am ready to get back in to this thing called a crazy school year! It is our preplanning week, so today was rich and heavy in information. The rest of the week will be filled with meetings and getting prepared for my precious babies that will be arriving next week!!! I saw some of their sweet little 10 year old faces and I think I might have shed a tear or two; they are too cute!

Speaking of cute, have you ever witnessed a large room full of cheerleaders? Like a huge high school cafeteria full of K-12 cheerleaders all together in one place? Probably one of the happiest places on Earth. I have these two cuties starting practice this week. Last week was camp and they were just so precious I almost couldn’t stand it. 11811533_10153467846048334_3668629814638028212_n 11817148_10153467845868334_1665413994084710059_n

So I got off work, picked up the girls, and got Becca ready, (she has practice 3 times a week and Katie has it twice), and I dropped her off at cheer practice. While she was there, I relaxed a bit, then cooked dinner. The hubby picked her up while I finished up cooking dinner. Here is what I made.

Chili Mac

Ingredients

1 pound macaroni noodles
1 pound ground beef (chicken, turkey, or even black beans or soy crumbles if you want to go veggie)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon cumin
1/2 tablespoon of onion powder, garlic powder, and chili powder
red chili flakes to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups of water
3/4 cup of heavy cream

Directions

Brown your meat. Add in spices.
Add in tomato paste. Cook down for about 3 minutes. Add in canned tomatoes. Mix well.
Add in pasta and water. Cook about 8 minutes. Stir pasta at the 4 minute mark. If it looks thick, add in a bit more water. Stir well. After 4 more minutes, check pasta. It should still have a bite to it. Add in your cream and cook until done.
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Popsicles for dessert!

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Just Another Summer Pasta Salad

Pasta, Salads, Vegetarian

Summer is not ending, but for some reason we still officially have to go back to school in a couple weeks. Why is it that in August, when Georgia is at its highest heat factor and level of humidity, we have to go back to school. Most schools in the north don’t go back until September. I would think that the school systems would want to save money on air condition. Can you imagine how much money they would save? But no, we have to go back in August. Boo!

Ok, so rant over for now. I was craving a nice summer pasta salad, so I threw this together for lunch. About 2 cups of pasta cooked (whatever you have on hand), a handful of grape tomatoes from my garden cut in half, one small can sliced black olives, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, a tablespoon of Italian seasoning, and a little onion and garlic powder. I also added some feta cheese. Delish! Plenty of leftovers for a few days!

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Sausage Parmesan and Stuffed Mushrooms

Pasta, Pork, Side dishes...veggies

So this happened tonight…

008007Stuffed Mushrooms- Brown some ground Italian Sausage. Put in the middle of mushrooms. Top with mozzarella. Cook at 350 for 20 minutes or until cheese is golden brown.

Italian Parmesan- Brown some Italian Sausage in the casing. Put a bit of sauce (homemade or jarred) to the bottom. Add sausage and top with more sauce and mozzarella. Cook at 350 for 20 minutes   or until cheese is golden brown.

Serve with a side of pasta and crusty bread.

Cheater, Cheater, Spaghetti Eater

Pasta

It is Wednesday!!! Even though I am having a great week, I am so glad the weekend is right around the corner!  Today was a long day, but amazing; I am learning so much in my class, but it is very draining. I knew I needed to come up with a fast dinner, so I took out some ground meat this morning and decided to make spaghetti.

Easy spaghetti. Cheater’s Spaghetti. Normal people who are super busy spaghetti. Wednesday Spaghetti. Not your special Sunday Spaghetti. You get my drift.

Dried noodles, jarred sauce, jarred mushrooms, frozen garlic bread. The only thing I did slightly homemade and special was to cook the ground meat with salt, pepper, and chopped fresh herbs from my garden (oregano and basil). I added the sauce to the meat mixture and then added the cooked pasta to the sauce before serving.

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