Hello!

This week’s recipe is for all your pasta lovers out there.

I’ve never been a huge pasta lover. I guess it’s because Mom never really cooked much of it. The only “pasta” she really did was noodles, and they were what she made. We all loved that. As a matter of fact, I didn’t know what spaghetti was until I was in school and it was cooked for our lunch one day, and it was the same with macaroni and cheese. I can eat it in small amounts, it’s just not my favorite.

My son and my husband happen to love pasta. So, I did cook it, and look for recipes that would peak their interest and I tried to incorporate some “healthy” into them as much as possible.

This week’s recipe is made with chicken. It originally called for chicken thighs, but I changed it to chicken breast. It’s fewer calories and leaner, not as greasy, but even doing that little change with it, it’s still a very high calorie dish. I’ll have to admit it did have a creamy, nice flavor to it, and yes, my pasta lovers really liked it.

This recipe takes a little fussing over, and it’s not really a quick one, but it’s worthy of a “Sunday” dinner meal.

I served it with cole slaw and pickled beets. It makes a large amount so we did have it for leftovers and I also served it with a salad and some bread sticks.

You can easily cut the recipe in half if you have a small amount of people to feed. I don’t recommend freezing this one.

If you do have to “reheat” it, I recommend you do it in a microwave and add a little milk to it. Pasta seems to absorb a lot of liquid, and it’s very good reheated.

Chicken Tetrazzini

1 lb. spaghetti

2 lbs. chicken (I diced chicken breast, if you want to skip cooking the chicken, use rotisserie)

2 Tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

4 Tablespoons butter

1 lb. mushrooms sliced.

3 cloves minced garlic (or 2 teaspoons powdered garlic)

1 onion diced (about 1 cup)

4 Tablespoons flour

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups milk

1 cup heavy whipping cream

½ cup frozen peas

3 cups cheese (I used sharp cheddar)

Directions:

1. Cook pasta to al dente and drain and set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

3. Heat olive oil in a large skillet or pot , add chicken salt, pepper and cook for about 8 minutes turning about halfway thru until it cooked thorough remove to a plate and set aside.

4. Add in butter and let melt then add the sliced mushrooms and onions

and the garlic and cook until onions are softened.

5. Add in the flour and stir for 30 seconds, slowly add in the chicken broth and whisk until smooth.

6. Mix in the milk and heavy cream, and simmer until sauce thickens about 3 to 5 minutes.

7. Turn off the heat and add in 2 cups of the cheese, frozen peas, cooked chicken, and pasta.

8. Pour in a 9×13 baking dish and top with the remaining cheese.

9. Bake for 25 minutes.