Chicken Spaghetti

Chicken Spaghetti, how do I love thee. Let me count the ways. 1) Your creamy warm comforting goodness. 2) Your little bit of chicken married perfectly with gooey cheese. 3) You reheat and make amazing leftovers. 4)..... Well, we better stop there because I could go on and on about this amazing recipe!

Whether you call them casseroles or hotdishes, you have to admit these are usually great go to meals. They bring you warm creamy comfort and always hit the spot. For us, these are great because they are something I can prep ahead of time and are a quick and easy meal that reheats great for the 2 of us. I'm always on the look out for great new casseroles. I usually use the same 2 over and over, but now this one is being added to the rotation as #3.

This casserole is from Pioneer Woman's Blog. I love her blog. If you haven't check it out, it is a must! Here is the direct link to the recipe. I followed her direction for poaching chicken, which is a poaching a full cut up chicken with the skin on, then you cook the spaghetti in the chicken water. The result is perfectly moist and flavorful chicken and noodles for the casserole.

Chicken Spaghetti
From Pioneer Woman
Serves 12 (1 serving = 7 POINTS+)

1 whole chicken, cut up
3 cups dry thin spaghetti, broken into 2 inch pieces
2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup, 98% fat free
2 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese, reduced fat
1/4 cup green pepper, finely diced
1/4 cup onion, finely diced
1 jar (4 oz) diced pimentos, drained
2 cups Reserved Chicken Water from pot
1 tsp. Lawry's Seasoning Salt
1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 cup Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese, reduced fat

In large pot, boil water and add chicken. Poach until cooked. After poaching chicken, add spaghetti to the same water you poached the chicken in. Cook spaghetti until al dente. Be careful to not overcook because the noodles will finish cooking with casserole. Reserve 2 cups of cooking liquid.

Shred chicken (discarding the skin...or you can add a little skin in with the casserole if you are feeling daring) and combine 2 cups worth of chicken with cooked spaghetti, cream of mushroom soup, onion, green pepper, 2 cups shredded cheddar, pimentos, seasoning salt, cooking liquid, cayenne pepper and salt and pepper. Pour into casserole pan and top with 1 cup shredded cheddar. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes and bubbly. (If the cheese gets too brown, cover with foil). This can be stored uncooked in freezer for up to 6 months or in the fridge for 2 days.

Chicken Curry Pasta Salad

I love summer, but summer and I only really get along when I have a nice cool place to retreat during those hot and humid dog days of summer. We spent one whole summer without any air conditioning at all...it was HOT. It was that summer that I discovered my love of cold pasta salads for supper. No need to turn on the oven and heat up an already sweltering house. After that summer, we moved into a place with central air and I slowly forgot how much I detest using an oven in the summer. Now we are living in an apartment that we use window air conditioning units and they don't quite get the kitchen as cool as I would like during theses hotter July days....and now I remember why I love cold pasta salads for supper. I'm always looking for new pasta salads to try.

The quest for this pasta salad begins back in the summer of 2008. It was the summer of my sister's wedding and I was throwing a bridal shower for her with one of her best friends, Joy. We had her shower at the Tea Room that Joy's mom, Cindy, owns. My sister, Hilary, specially requested a Chicken Curry Pasta Salad. Cindy is an amazing cook, and this salad is no exception. It revolutionized my pasta salad life and I began the quest of trying to recreate this at home. I had dreams about this salad. Dreams about its spicy warmness. Dreams about is creamy goodness. Dreams of it taunting me because I couldn't figure out that magical ingredient to recreate it. I tried again and again to make something similar and now I think I've gotten pretty close.

The secret ingredient that really pushed this over the edge was mango chutney. It provided the perfect blend of spices and warmth. I used the brand Patak's which I was able to find in the international section at Cub Foods. The dressing is a simple mayonnaise based dressing with some chutney and curry. I used a half and half mixture of light miracle whip and mayonnaise. I thought this combo lended the best of both worlds. If you wanted to lighten it up, you could use a lower fat mayo or do all miracle whip. The ingredients are pretty variable. If you like more chicken or grapes or nuts you can increase those amounts, so I left the recipe pretty variable.

This salad is delish and we will definitely be making this one again and again.

Chicken Curry Pasta Salad
Feel free to toy with the amounts of pasta, chicken, grapes & nuts
This makes one large batch that probably is 8-10 main dish servings

1 lb. pasta, cooked and cooled (recommended shapes bowtie or rotini)
6-8 chicken breasts, cooked, cooled and chopped (I roasted mine in the oven, but you could poach or grill as well)
2 stalks celery
8-10 oz whole cashews
6 cups red seedless grapes
1 c + 2 Tbsp. Light Miracle Whip
1 c. mayonnaise
1/2 c. + 1 Tbsp. Patak's Sweet Mango Chutney
4 scant tsp. curry powder
Sprinkle of Cinnamon
Pinch of Salt
Small squeeze of lemon juice, about 1 tsp

In large bowl, toss together the pasta, chicken, grapes, celery and nuts. Set aside. In a seperate bowl mix together the miracle whip, mayo, chutney, curry powder, cinnamon and salt. Squeeze enough lemon juice to reach desired consistency. (I left mine somewhat thicker, so I probably used only about 1-2 tsp) Serve as is or cover and chill.

My First Ever Cake Roll & Some Tasty Lasagna

On Friday my husband, Mike, and I had some friends over for dinner. I decided to go with a no fail entree, lasagna. Who doesn't love lasagna? All those layers of cheesy, saucy, pasta-packed goodness. Oh, I'm drooling just thinking about it. For the sake of being healthy since Mike and I will be eating these leftovers for a few days, I opted to try to healthify this lasagna a bit. My general rule of thumb is that I make the recipe exactly as written the first time and from there I modify where I see fit. Since I've made this lasagna before, I knew I'd be safe lightening it up a bit. I used part-skim ricotta cheese and italian turkey sausage to trim down this pan of Italian deliciousness. I find in this recipe the egg in the ricotta helps hide that it is lighter. I wouldn't use anything lighter than part-skim ricotta as it could get slightly too watery and you'd lose out on the richness. As far as using turkey sausage, I've found a brand that I love. It is the only brand I've found thus far that can compete with the full fat pork sausage. I find it at Hy-Vee and it's Honeysuckle brand. They also make great Turkey Brats and Turkey Breakfast Sausage. This recipe if from the back of the Creamette No Bake Lasagna noodles. Well, it use to be. The recipe on the back of my last few packages has changed. As far as the amounts of ingredients, I sometimes need more of the cheese, ricotta, and sauce depending on the size of my pan and how many layers I get. This batch ended up being 4 layers. This is also best made the night before. As it sits in the fridge, the flavors meld together and the noodles will soften up a bit too.

Lasagna:

1 container ricotta cheese (15-16oz)
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs
2 jars of pasta sauce + 1/2 c water
1 lb. No Cook Lasagna Noodles
1 lb. Italian Sausage, cooked and drained
4 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the ricotta, parmesan, and eggs well. Combine the 2 jars of pasta sauce with the 1/2 c water. In the bottom of a greased lasagna pan, spread 1 cup of sauce. Top with 1 layer of noodles, then spread with some of the ricotta mixture, sprinkle with sausage. Spread more sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella. Repeat these layers until you have no more noodles left. On top of the last layer of noodles, pour remaining sauce and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. (I often need to use about another 1/2 jar of sauce and 1 c. mozzarella, sometimes I even need a little more ricotta too.) Cover with foil. Bake for 50 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before servings, cover with foil while it sits to hold the heat in.

This made 12 huge servings.

Feast your eyes of those lovely layers!

For dessert, I attempted something I've never made before, a cake roll. Mike got me a jelly roll pan for my birthday and I've been dying to try to make one, but I've always been so scared to try. Well, I sucked it up and just told myself that if I fail at least it will taste good. Much to my suprise, making cake rolls are so much easier that I thought. Next time I'll take pictures of the process to show you how to make assemble one (because there is a pumpkin one I plan to make this fall). The only thing I would do differently the next time I make this would be to whip my whipping cream stiffer. When I rolled it up in the cake roll it was a little loose and started to come out the edges and the bottom. This recipe is from a friend who hosted the monthly Bunco game. Her's looked so good and tasted so great, it inspired me attempt making a cake roll myself. I'm so proud of it and Mike was completely impressed. He even felt the need to show it off to our guests before I cut it up to serve. So here is the cake roll recipe from Miranda:

Strawberries & Cream Cake Roll

Cake:

4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 sifted cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Powdered sugar

Filling:
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cup strawberries, cut up
powdered sugar
more strawberries (optional)
whipped cream (optional)

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs and vanilla on high for 5 min. gradually add sugar, beat until dissolved. Combine flour, baking powder and salt fold gently into egg mixture just until combined. Pour into a greased and waxed paper-lined jelly roll pan. Spread batter evenly over pan. Bake at 375 for 10-12 min. or until light brown. Turn out onto a cloth that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar. Peel off paper from cake; roll up cloth and cake. Cool. For filling, whip: cream, sugar, and vanilla. Unroll cake and spread filling over it, sprinkle with strawberries. Roll up cake again and chil 2 hours before serving. sprinkle with powdered sugar, garnish with strawberries and whipped cream.