Mexican Chicken Spaghetti

This is my go to dish for when I'm bringing food to a friend. It's easy to freeze, or pop in the oven and bake and eat right away. And who doesn't love gobs of cheese, pasta and chicken all in one dish? It makes enough for 6 servings, so I often divide it when I make it and keep half for our dinner that evening.

It's a relatively easy recipe, you just need to be able to pay attention to it as you are cooking (read: no toddlers in the vicinity of the kitchen). I got this recipe from my sister-in-law, Misti, in a cookbook she made for me as a wedding gift. I've modified it to work for our family, and because it has a nice kick I call it "Mexican Chicken Spaghetti."

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
1 medium onion
1 small green bell pepper (or buy the tri-pepper pre-chopped mix)
1 can rotel
1/2 block of the large Velvetta, chopped into cubes
1 can of cream of celery soup
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 pound of chicken tenderloins, boiled or grilled to your liking (or see my shortcut below)
1 package of spaghetti noodles
1 package of frozen broccoli, steamed (optional)
1 cup of chicken broth (optional)

Directions

Dice the onion and bell pepper and sauté with the butter until both the onions and bell peppers are clear.

Next, add in the rotel and cook down for a couple of minutes. Then, add in the mushroom and celery soups and cook down for a few minutes.

Then, add in the Velvetta and constantly stir the mixture.

Allow this to cook on medium heat for 20 minutes. Starting to look like queso, eh? While this is cooking, boil water and cook the noodles.

Remember what I said earlier about my chicken shortcut? This is it. Easy, delicious and takes about 3 minutes to cook in the microwave. Get ya some.

Once the cheese mixture is cooked, add the chicken and noodles. If you are adding the steamed broccoli, go ahead and put it in now. You might notice that this doesn't look like spaghetti noodles. You would be correct. I forgot to buy spaghetti at the store, and substituted macaroni. It was a delicious accident and we liked the macaroni version just as much as the original. If you find that your sauce is too thick, add one cup of chicken broth until it thins. Put the mixture into a 9x13 pan and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Dinner is served.

Grilled Chicken Pesto Pasta

I love pasta as much (or maybe more) than the next person, so its no surprise it shows up on our menu at least once a week. This week, I had a big craving for pesto, so I used this recipe and modified it to work for my family. This is a really simple weeknight dish to throw together.

Ingredients

• 1 box of spaghetti
• 1/2 cup of prepared pesto
• Grilled chicken (I buy the frozen, pre-cooked kind...it's the weeknight, don't judge)
• 1/4 cup of sun dried tomatoes (optional...but why would you opt no?)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Parmesan cheese (optional)

Instructions

Cook spaghetti in 4 cups of boiled, salted water (the salt helps your pasta not stick together). While water is boiling, heat the chicken in a skillet over medium-high heat. Once your spaghetti is cooked and drained, return it to the pot you boiled it in. Add the pesto and stir until well blended. Then add in the sun dried tomatoes. By now, your chicken should be heated, so go ahead and add that to your pot and stir it all together. Sprinkle in the parmesan cheese so it melts in to the pasta, and enjoy!

Mexican Taco Monday!

At the end of a dreadful Monday, I always need a good meal to look forward to. Am I right?

I found this recipe a few weeks ago when reading a magazine, made a few changes to make it work for us, and now we have a new easy weeknight dinner. Ole!

The secret to this recipe is in the beans. Seriously! They're packed with flavor and add a perfect kick to the meal.

Chicken Fajita Tacos

What you need for the beans-

1 can of black beans (or 2 if you're making a larger batch; which we have been doing)

1/4 cup cilantro

4 slices of deli sliced jalepeno peppers

Sprinkle of salt and pepper

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons water

1 tsp. cumin 

1 tsp. garlic powder

All of your ingredients for the beans.

Put all of the ingredients into your food processor and press go! After the beans are mixed, simply transfer them to a pot and warm them on the stove.

Next, cook a chicken breast. Then cut it into strips, dice it or shred it (however you like it)! Or you can take the easy route, which I prefer to do on a weeknight every night, and use a pre-cooked chicken like this one:

This is really delicious and takes just three minutes in the microwave! #winning

Grab your tortilla, spread a generous amount of beans on it, add your chicken and any other desired toppings (I added salsa and cheese) and dinner is done. BOOM.

The picture really doesn't do it justice. This meal is delicious!

It's a really quick weeknight meal. To save time you can prepare the beans over the weekend and keep them in the fridge. When you are ready to eat, just heat them up.

I also love this because you can do several variations. The first night I made it, we had shredded chicken tostadas. Lately, we've been doing fajita tacos. You can also substitute the chicken for beef, make quesadillas, or a taco salad. Again, the flavor in this recipe comes from the beans. It's all about the beans!

And did I mention that if you dip the taco in queso it's absolute perfection? Because every Monday deserves some queso. 

Weeknight Pasta

Before we got married, my family threw me a kitchen shower where guests attached a recipe to their gift. I got a few great recipes, and this weeknight pasta was one of them (thanks, Kim!). It has three ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen. It's so easy to throw together on a busy weeknight, trust me!

A little background: my husband is a very picky eater...and that is an understatement. He doesn't eat anything green; no fruits, veggies, or anything remotely healthy. His favorite veggie: salsa; favorite fruit: red starburst. This is not an exaggeration. So, cooking in our house can be quite a challenge as you can probably imagine.

Fortunately, we both agree on this dish and love it. Hope you enjoy it, too!

Balsamic Pasta
9 oz. store bought ravioli (or your favorite pasta) (we use the Buitoni brand)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
Chopped, toasted walnuts, if desired (hubs does NOT desire)
Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top

How to make it: Boil water. Add pasta and cook until tender. Drain pasta and put back in pot. While pasta is boiling, combine butter and vinegar in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until bubbly. Once foam subsides and butter turns brown, turn heat off and let it cool. Stir in the balsamic butter mix with the pasta. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and walnuts on top.

This is what the final product looks like (for tonight, anyway).



I also love this dish because there are several variations to it. You can use ravioli, tortellini, angel hair, and the list goes on. You can easily throw in last night's leftover chicken to make it a more hearty dish or add in some sun dried tomatoes and spinach to get your veggies for the day. I usually serve it with a light salad, too. It's also good reheated for lunch the next day (if that's your thing...and it's very much my thing!).

Bon appétit!

Chopped Beef Sandwiches

This is a great week to pull out the crock pot and let it work its magic. The crock pot is probably the most under utilized gadget in my kitchen, which I hate to admit. Nevertheless, it's perfect for this easy weeknight meal. This recipe is based on my mother in law's recipe she uses at Ford Family Tailgating parties, just modified to work for our family (and my MSPI diet).

Ingredients

• 2 cups of pre-chopped creole mix veggies (in the produce section at the grocery store)
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce (your choice of sauce; I use Stubb's or homemade)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (I use A1 so that it's MSPI friendly)
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of creole seasoning (I use Slap Ya Mama)
• 1-2 pounds of boneless chuck roast
• Burger/sandwich buns

Mix the first eight ingredients together in the crock pot, and then add the meat. Turn the crock pot on high and cook for 6-7 hours, until the meat is tender. When you are ready to serve, shred the meat and serve on a burger bun of your choice. It goes great alongside grilled veggies!