Thursday, February 21, 2013

Ham & Cheese Ziti

Dinner tonight!

This is a modified recipe. The original recipe called for butter, flour, and milk. I was able to reduce the time it took to cook, the amount of calories (1065 calories!! That's a whole meal!), and the fat content just by using Whisk Bliss Original or Gluten Free.
Ingredients:
 
16oz packages ziti noodles
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 1/2 c. water
4 cups Colby cheese, shredded
8 oz cooked ham (deli style), cut into thin strips
3/4 cups Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions
Cook and drain pasta according to instructions (you may need to do it in two batches if your larges pot isn’t large enough.
This is what the cheese sauce looked like. Ignore the dirty stove, please!
In large saucepan mix water and Whisk Bliss and bring to a simmer, on the stove. Add garlic
Once simmering, allow to continue to thicken for 1 minute, then add mustard and Colby cheese. Continue stirring until cheese is melted. Add ham and pasta, stirring well. Pour over cooked ham and noodles.
You can bake this or freeze for later. I thought that after baking that there needed to be more sauce. Just a thought.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Garlic Pesto Chicken With Tomato Creme Penne

I made this dish last night and I have to say I wasn't very crazy about the chicken. I thought it was way too salty. My husband liked it though and my kids ate it without complaining. However, I really enjoyed the pasta. My baby ended up eating 3 helpings of this meal.

 Garlic Pesto Chicken With Tomato Creme Penne

1/2 bottle of lawrys Herb and Garlic Marinade
2 large spoonfuls of Pesto
2 boneless chicken breasts.
 
Cut chicken into one inch strips. Using same knife make slits into chicken. Pour lawrys marinade and pesto over chicken. Marinate over night (I did mine Sunday morning and cooked mine Monday evening so it marinated a while!!)
 
Sauce:
8 ounces of your choice of pasta (I used whole wheat penne)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
2 spoonfuls of pesto
1/2 cup of water with 1/4 t. of Shirley J's Chicken Bouillon
8 ounces of tomato sauce
1/4 c. Whisk bliss and 1 c. water (prepare in a sauce pan then add)
 
Boil water and start on noodles.
Pour entire batch of chicken, marinade and all, into skillet and cook chicken fully (the marinade will evaporate/cook down)
Heat olive oil, cook garlic. Add pesto. Simmer in chicken broth until half has cooked down. Add tomato sauce. Then add whisk bliss sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes. Toss pasta in. Add more Whisk Bliss (dry) if it needs to be thickened. Place chicken on top.
 
I found this recipe here.
This is the pasta.

This is the way the sauce, for the pasta, looked before I added the Whisk Bliss to it.