Deb's Famous Tuscan Chicken Pasta

Deb's Famous Tuscan Chicken Pasta
TUSCAN CHICKEN PASTA

Servings: 4-6 Servings
Cook Time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
3-4 Chicken Breasts
6 ounce package of Fusilli or Rotini Pasta
3-4 Roma Tomatoes (chopped)
½ cup Sun Dried Tomatoes (julienned)
2 cups of small Broccoli Florets
¾-1 cup Extra Light Olive Oil
1½-2 Tablespoons Pasta Blend Seasoning (Trader Joe’s has a great one!)
1 teaspoon Garlic Salt
Parmesan Cheese (to taste)
Lemon Pepper


Fill large pot with water, set on stove, and turn heat to high. Bring water to a boil and pour in the 16 ounce package of pasta noodles. Cook for 8-11 minutes until noodles are cooked through and tender. Drain pasta and set aside.

Season chicken with lemon pepper and throw on grill (medium heat for approximately 6 minutes on each side). After you have taken the chicken off the grill, cut in to 1-1½ ” squares and set aside.

In the meantime, chop your roma tomatoes and broccoli florets (set aside). Then, in a small bowl whisk together olive oil, pasta blend seasoning and garlic salt.

Take out a large bowl and add the pasta, chicken, roma tomatoes, broccoli, and olive oil mixture. Now, toss the ingredients to together and season with parmesan cheese (to taste). Serve immediately.

This pasta goes great with a tossed salad and toasted garlic bread. ENJOY!

Spinach, Chicken, and Pasta Salad

This is by far my most favorite salad of all time. Ever. Period. It's the best!


16 oz. bowtie pasta, cooked and drained

Dressing:
1 c. vegetable oil
2/3 c. bottled Teriyaki sauce
2/3 c. white wine vinegar
6 Tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper

1 10 oz. bag of spinach
6 oz. bag of craisins
3 11 oz. cans mandarin oranges, drained
2 8 oz. cans sliced water chestnuts, drained
½ c. parsley, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
¼ c. sesame seeds, toasted
6 oz. honey roasted peanuts
2 c. cooked chicken, cut in small pieces

Blend dressing ingredients in a blender. Mix dressing and cooked pasta in medium bowl and marinate for 2 hours. Combine rest of ingredients in large salad bowl, add pasta and dressing and toss.


Just a side note....our ward started a "Recipe Club" and asked me to head it up. I thought a blog like this would be great but we have some not-so-computer-literate ladies in our ward who basically only know how to e-mail. So, they passed a sign up around, I send out an e-mail each month with a topic and everyone sends their recipes to me and then I cut and paste and send out a pretty word document to the ladies. They can then print them off themselves and store them in a three ring binder in sheet protectors (works great for recipe books). Anyway, I LOVED the idea so thought I'd share with you so you might start it in your own ward. This month is salads, hence the spinach recipe I submitted to Grandma's Syrup! Enjoy!

Baked Ziti

Today a guy at work brought in the best baked ziti I've ever tasted. He recently moved here from New York, and learned to cook from his Italian grandma. I talked him into sharing the recipe.

1 lb. ziti pasta

1 large can & 1 small can tomato puree
1 bell pepper
1 small onion
4-6 cloves chopped garlic
1 tomato
3 grilled dinner sausages
1 lb mozzarella
1 lb ricotta
¼ lb parmesan
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Basil
Salt

Pepper

Sauté the garlic in oil till just before it turns brown. Then throw in the onions and the peppers, turn down the heat a little, cover, and let soften a little. Once the veggies are softer, throw in the tomatoes, and add basil, salt, and pepper. Stir frequently and try to keep covered, turn the heat up if needed. After everything is mixed together well (probably about 15-20 mins), and you can see the juices from the veggies, pour in the tomato puree and stir. Cut up your grilled sausage and throw it in. Stir repeatedly to get everything mixed well. Your house should smell amazing at this point by the way. For the most part you are done creating the sauce and just need to monitor it. Make sure things aren’t sticking to the bottom of the pot, that kind of thing. I usually put it on low, cover it, and stir about every 5-10 minutes. You can leave it on there as long as you’d like. Another 20 mins, 2 hours, a day, its really up to you. My grandmother treats her sauce like whisky, the older the better, but really it should taste amazing in about 20 -30 minutes. Remember to taste your sauce as you cook. I like to keep some bread next to the pot for dipping. Its all about tasting as you go!

Once you throw in the sausage you can start with the pasta if you don’t anticipate cooking the sauce for a long time. Once the pasta and the sauce are cooked, throw the pasta in a large mixing bowl, then spoon in the ricotta cheese and mozzarella (shredded or cubed). Save a little mozz for the top. Throw in ¾ of the sauce, and mix until pink and blended. Line a baking tray with a thin layer of sauce and then spoon in your ziti mixture. Throw the remainder of the sauce on top and cover with mozz and the parmesan cheeses. If everything is still hot, you can put right in the oven at 375 for about ½ hour or until the middle is warm and the top is browning.

The beauty about this meal is if you want you can make it, refrigerate it, and cook later. If you do, cover it loosely with foil so the cheese doesn’t stick and cook for 45-60 mins at 375 or until the middle is hot and the top is browning (take the foil off about ½ way through).

I know it’s a little rough, but you should be able to wing the unclear parts. That’s the beauty of my family’s cooking…improvising!