Three Cheese Chicken Penne Florentine

This is one of my favorites.  It might seem a little complicated, but if you do some prep work ahead of time, it's not bad.  I usually just buy a rotisserie chicken instead of cooking my own.  I also usually add extra spinach, and sometimes I skip the red bell pepper.  You can assemble it and freeze it too.

Three Cheese Chicken Penne Florentine (from Cooking Light magazine)

• 1  teaspoon  olive oil
• Cooking spray
• 3  cups  thinly sliced mushrooms
• 1  cup  chopped onion
• 1  cup  chopped red bell pepper
• 3  cups  chopped fresh spinach
• 1  tablespoon  chopped fresh oregano
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1  (16-ounce) carton 2% low-fat cottage cheese
• 4  cups  hot cooked penne (about 8 ounces uncooked tube-shaped pasta)
• 2  cups  shredded roasted skinless, boneless chicken breast
• 1  cup  (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese, divided
• 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1/2  cup  2% reduced-fat milk
• 1  (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed reduced-fat, reduced-sodium cream of chicken soup, undiluted

Preheat oven to 425°.

Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, onion, and bell pepper; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Add spinach, oregano, and black pepper; sauté 3 minutes or just until spinach wilts.

Place cottage cheese in a food processor; process until very smooth. Combine spinach mixture, cottage cheese, pasta, chicken, 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, milk, and soup in a large bowl. Spoon mixture into a 2-quart baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheddar cheese and remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake at 425° for 25 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.

[from Jaime]

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Just made my fav chicken meal tonight for friends.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

4 (ish) Chicken breasts (flatten w/ meat tenderizer) 

1 package of cream cheese

1 garlic clove

1 palmful of oregano

1 package of deli ham

1 cup (ish) of milk

1 cup of bread crumbs

1/2 cup of parmesan cheese

toothpicks

Preheat oven to 350. Mix cream cheese with garlic and oregano. Mix bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Put milk in bowl. After you flatten the chicken, place ham on top, and put a spoonful of the cream cheese mixture on the ham. Roll up the stuffed chicken, using toothpicks to secure the chicken. Dip the chicken roll into the milk then dip into the bread crumb mixture. Place onto greased (spray) baking pan. Bake for 30 mins or until it's done. *Note that the chicken may have a pink color from the ham even though it may be done. 

I usually serve it with rice and green beans (tonight I also made squash - yum!) Enjoy!

[from Rene']

EASY CHICKEN PARMESAN

THIS IS REALLY SIMPLE.  IT'S NOT GOURMET OR ANYTHING BUT IT'S GOOD :)

EASY CHICKEN PARMESAN

INGREDIENTS
chicken (sliced thin)
butter
Italian bread crumbs
Parmesan cheese
Provolon/Mozzarella cheese slices
Spaghetti sauce (we use Ragu)
Pasta

DIRECTIONS
1.  Set oven at 400 degrees
2.  Slice chicken in half (we like it thin!) and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder
3.  Melt half a stick of butter
4.  Lay out Italian bread crumbs on a plate and stir in some parmesan cheese.
5.  Dip chicken in melted butter and then coat with bread crumbs
6.  Cook for 20 minutes.
7.  Place slice cheese (provolon, mozzarella; we use cheddar b/c Pen loves it that way!) on top of chicken and then top with Spaghetti sauce (we use Ragu)
8.  Cook for another 10 minutes.
9. Serve with pasta

I always warm up a little more sauce for the noodles and make garlic bread.

 

Of course you could make real sauce, but this is so much faster!

[from improvingmama]

Val's Pasta Dinner

Okay, here is something I made up back in the good ole poor college days. I love it. DH loves it. Kids love it. Everyone I feed it to loves it.

VAL'S PASTA DINNER

Curly pasta noodles
Italian Dressing
Parmesean Cheese (the dried kind really is best--it adds good texture)

That is all you need. Everything beyond that is bonus. I really like sauteed mushrooms mixed in with it. Yum.

Cook the noodles to your liking. Put them in a bowl. Pour some Italian dressing over it. Sprinkle some parmesean cheese. Hopefully you are adding mushrooms, but if not, that will be okay. Eat and enjoy! My kids like this way better than macaroni and cheese. Oh, and I  use whole wheat pasta.

[from Valerie]

BAKED ZUCCHINI AND GROUND TURKEY

DH wasn't wild about this when I cooked it, but I liked it.  He's not a veggie eater and just wanted normal spaghetti :)

BAKED ZUCCHINI AND GROUND TURKEY *

INGREDIENTS
3 tbsp. oil
3 lbs. sliced zucchini
1/3 c. chopped onion
1 1/2 pkgs. Italian spaghetti sauce (dry)
1 3/4 c. water
1 tbsp. oil
1 (6 oz.) tomato paste
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
1/3 c. bread crumbs
1 (8 oz.) pkg. Mozzarella cheese
1 lb. ground beef (I used ground turkey)

DIRECTIONS
1. Combine first oil, zucchini, and onion and saute until tender. Put in 2 quart casserole dish.

2. Brown the beef. Add one package of sauce, water, tomato paste and 2 tablespoons oil. Heat to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour over zucchini.

3. Mix Parmesan and bread crumbs. Sprinkle over top and mix gently.

4. Top with Mozzarella. Bake to a golden brown at 350 degrees.

Serves 4-6.

(I was concerned Pen wouldn't eat this, so I cooked some spaghetti noodles too...of course he ate it with the noodles instead of the zucchini)

Butternut Squash with Polenta

Tonight we had butternut squash w/ polenta (the butternut squash alone is a great side dish if you want meat as your main course)


Here's the squash recipe:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

• 1 large butternut squash
• 1-2 garlic cloves, minced (depending on the size of the squash)
• olive oil (enough to coat)
• parm cheese (as much as you like!)

1. Peel, seed, and cut the squash into 1-inch pieces
2. In a large bowl, toss the squash with enough olive oil to coat to squash, then add garlic and toss to mix well.
3. Put squash mixture into a baking dish (I use 9X13) and sprinkle with parm cheese. (Use more if you like a crunchy top, less if not)
4. Bake uncovered for 45 min.-1 hour, until soft but not mushy.

I serve it on top of a bed of polenta, but again it's great alone as a side dish.

 
[from Maryea]

Spaghetti Pie

tonight we had spaghetti pie (recipe from my MIL) which is a family favorite. mmm.




8 oz spagetti, broken into 2 inch pieces and boiled



20-24 oz sauce



1 lb ground beef browned with 1 chopped onion and 3 chopped garlic cloves ~ season with Italian seasoning or oregano and salt and pepper. mix with sauce



mix the spagetti noodles with:



1 beaten egg, 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, and 2 T butter.



place in the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan.



cover with 12 oz cottage cheese



cover with meat/sauce mix



cook for 30 min at 350. also freezes well unbaked. yum! it's like lasagna, but i think it's easier to make. i don't even make regular spaghetti anymore.

 
[from Rochelle]

Rochelle, I make a similar spaghetti dish, but it's spaghetti casserole. Instead of ricotta, I melt a block of cream cheese in with the ground beef and use cheddar cheese instead of parm. Then bake. It's soooooo good!

[from ChasCHAS]

Baked Ziti

Tonight is Baked Ziti, salad and Garlic Bread sticks:

• 2lb beef, 1 onion chopped: brown and drain
• 2 26 oz jars of fav. spaghetti sauce, mix with above and simmer for 30 min. I add a tbsp of sugar to cut the acidity
• 1 lb dry ziti-- cook by directions, toss with 3 tbsp olive oil so it doesn't stick
• 6 oz sliced provolone cheese
• 4 cups mozerella cheese
• 2 cups sour cream (I use light)
• 2 tbsp grated parmesan

Layers:

• a small amount of meat sauce to prevent sticking
• 1/2 of ziti
• all of provolone cheese
• all of sour cream
• 2 cups mozerella
• rest of ziti
• meat sauce
• top with rest of mozzarella and parmesan cheese
• bake at 350 for 30 minutes. If its been refrigerated, let it come to room temp on counter first (30-45 minutes). ITS DELICIOUS!!!!!!

This freezes well. If freezing, Just adjust the baking time to about an hour and let it thaw for a while.

I had thought the other day we might form a recipie exchange! This might just do the trick!

[from Ada]