Chicken & Veggie Pasta

This happens to be one of the recipes I've been tumbling around. I still think it needs... something, I don't know, but it was tasty.

Ingredients:
2 (healthy sized) chicken breasts, cubed
1 squash, sliced (I used 1/2 a cup frozen...thawed completely)
1 large zucchini, sliced
1/2 cup mushrooms (I'm quite fond of portabella, but whatever tickles your fancy)
12oz. veggie spiral pasta (wacky mac, not just for pasta salads!)
1/2 white onion, chopped
pinch of basil & oregano


Sauce:
1 package Italian dressing seasoning (I keep this stuff on hand at all times, along with buttermilk ranch dressing packets. They always come in handy!)
1 clove garlic, minced
8oz cream cheese, softened
1 can cream of chicken soup

Instructions:

Multitasking on the burners here...

In a medium saucepan, on low to medium heat, add ingredients of sauce. Stir occasionally. You'll want to make sure cream cheese is melted and blended in completely. 

In a 5 qt saucepan, boil cubed chicken for 10 minutes. You'll want to cook your chicken for slightly longer than pasta and vegetables so that the chicken gets cooked and the pasta doesn't get over cooked. Drain. I stopped measuring here, but add pasta (and water accordingly) & veggies with basil and oregano. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking for 13-15 minutes (stirring occasionally), or until pasta is at desired texture. I like mine soft... borderline overcooked... al dente is not my fave, so it stayed cooking for 15 minutes. Drain excess water.

Combine sauce with pasta in your 5qt saucepan. Mix thoroughly.

Serve with a sprinkle of shredded mozzarella & make sure you have plenty of mouths to feed or you're going to be stuck with a bunch of leftovers (oh darn).

Holy Chicken Marsala

OK... I know, what's with the "holy?" Chicken marsala is my boyfriend's favorite meal. SO, after he has asked for it and asked for it, I finally delivered. His reaction upon his first bite: "OH MY GOD!" I seriously thought something was wrong, he practically yelled it... when I asked him what was wrong, he said "you can make this for me every day of my life." I'd honestly prefer not to; it isn't the easiest meal to make, but I have to admit, it is pretty fantastic. Is it the best chicken marsala ever? I don't know. I've never had chicken marsala. I don't even know what it's supposed to taste like, but the boyfriend seems to think it was perfection. It's not your typical marsala recipe. I read several recipes and decided I didn't like any of them and immediately started jotting down ingredients that I thought would make it better. And so it was created... holy chicken marsala.

Ingredients:

1 pkg (pre-packed sliced) baby portabella mushrooms

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can golden mushroom soup

1 small white onion

2 Tbs minced garlic (or less, to taste. I really like garlic)

1.5lbs (give or take, but that's what I used) chicken tenders or breasts halved

3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs

1/4 cup flour

1/3 cup egg beaters (I'm lazy, this is what I use to dredge chicken... eggs are fine too, of course)

1 Tbs oregano (I use the dried Mexican oregano)

pepper & salt to taste

1/2 cup marsala wine

1/4 cup butter (I used whipped butter)

olive oil

pasta or rice

Instructions:

This required a fair bit of multi-tasking, which I am not too fond of, but the result really was worth it, and since my wonderful man slaved all day outside replacing emblems on my beloved camaro, I figured he deserved it. With that being said, I'm going to try to not to type in circles :)

Mince onions in food processor, roughly chop mushrooms so that they're not such large pieces. If your slices are already small, then this is not necessary. In a large pan (you'll be cooking chicken in this pan later) saute onions, mushrooms, and garlic in butter. 

In small pot, combine soups. Add your onions, mushroom & garlic, but make sure to leave a small amount of the mixture in the large pan. This will add flavor to chicken later. Heat on low. Stir Occasionally.

Pound chicken until about 1/4 inch thick. Dredge in egg & bread with bread crumbs, flour, oregano, salt, & pepper. 

Coat the bottom of your large pan in olive oil. On high heat, fry chicken for about two minutes on each side. Transfer chicken to small baking dish & keep in oven on 250 for about 15 minutes or until cooked through. I used this time to finish the sauce and cook the pasta.

Prepare pasta or rice of your choice. I prefer whole grain spaghetti.

Bring sauce to boil & add marsala wine. Reduce heat to low and simmer until pasta is cooked, stirring occasionally.

Serve as you wish. I mixed sauce and pasta on the plate, then topped with chicken and more sauce. It looks messy, true, but it was absolutely yummy!