Chicken Bruschetta Penne
Created by me
2 chicken breasts, chopped
1 large onion
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
jar roasted red peppers, drained and diced
1 bunch basil, chopped
16 oz (total for all) Provolone, Mozzarella, and Parmesan mixed
about 5-6 cups penne
doubled recipe for Guiltless Alfredo from ourbestbites.com
Cook penne according to package directions.
Heat a little EVOO in a large skillet. Add chicken. Cook for a few minutes (leave it alone to brown a bit - don't scoot it around the pan just yet). When chicken looks mostly cooked through, add onion and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent. Remove from heat. When pasta is done, drain and return to pot. Add chicken/onion mixture, and Alfredo sauce. Add about 1/3 of the roasted red peppers. Stir to combine well. Pour into a 9x13. In a separate bowl, combine basil and red peppers with a little bit of olive oil. Spread on top of casserole. Top with cheese. Bake 350 about 30 minutes or until bubbly and hot. Serve with a salad.
*I made this up the other day and played with it a bit. I *hope* I remembered it properly and not for doubling (in which case you would need 10 cups pasta and 4 chicken breasts) because I doubled it to freeze one, but then played with the extra one a bit. So be flexible, but it is yummy. All I remember was thinking it needed more alfredo - so maybe 1 1/2 the recipe would be OK. Using sundried tomatoes in the alfredo mixture is good too. Like I said, I played with it a lot
Alfredo recipe from Ourbestbites.com:
Guiltless Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients:
2 C low-fat milk
1/3 C (3 oz) low fat cream cheese
2-3 T flour
1 t salt
1 T butter
3 garlic cloves
1 C grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions:
Place milk, cream cheese, flour, and salt in a blender
and blend until smooth. In a non-stick sauce pan, melt butter on med-high heat
and add garlic. Let the garlic saute for about 30 seconds, you don’t want to
burn it.
Then
add milk mixture to the pan. Stir constantly for about 3 or 4 minutes or until
it just comes to a simmer. Keep stirring and let it cook for a few minutes
more. It should be much thicker now.
When it’s nice and thickened remove the pan from the heat. Add the cheese, stir
it up and then cover immediately. Let stand for at least 10 minutes before using.
It will continue to thicken upon standing. Season with additional salt if
needed. Also, if you have leftovers in the fridge, the sauce will thicken
almost into a solid. Just re-heat and add a little milk and it will be back to
normal again
