Bowtie Pasta with Roasted Red Peppers

I couldn't help but to post another recipe...or two....and a tip.  Today I was home with 2 sick kids so I spent some time in the kitchen cleaning and getting a menu plan  ready for the week. I also cooked a partial bag of frozen chicken tenderloins to use for dinners this week. I have found it so  much easier to cook a whole bag of chicken at once to make dinner prep that much faster, especially on days that I work and my husband is in charge of getting dinner on the table. I try to plan easy dinners for him to get ready, and do more prep ahead of time. Half of the chicken I baked got sliced for this bowtie pasta, and the other half of the chicken got chopped into small pieces to go into chicken cheese crescents (recipe below) for Thursday dinner that I will put together Wednesday morning while my daughter is at preschool, so when my husband does dinner he can just pop them in the oven and heat up a veggie for dinner.


Broiled Chicken

Turn on the broiler. Dump a whole bag of frozen chicken tenderloins on a big sheet pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper or grill seasoning. Bake at 350 for 7 minutes, flip and bake another 7 minutes until done. Let cool a little bit then chop or slice as needed and divide in meal portions and toss in the fridge.

This will be our dinner tomorrow night. It was originally found here. So here goes my tweak...


Bowtie Pasta with Roasted Red Peppers and Grilled Chicken

• 1 lb. bowtie pasta
• 1-1 1/2 lbs. grilled chicken, sliced
• handful of diced onion (since my family isn't fans of onions, I chop and freeze them and use them sparingly)
• 3 tsp minced garlic (I sometimes have garlic on hand or a store bought jar)
• 4 Tbs. butter
• 1 cup milk (I rarely have half and half on hand, some times I add 2 oz of cream cheese along with the mlik to make it creamier)
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 tsp. grill seasoning (tastefully simple is my favorite)
• 12 oz jar roasted red peppers, sliced
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. While it cooks, melt butter in a skillet over medium heat and cook the onion and garlic till soft. Whisk in milk and chicken broth. Stir in grill seasoning and mozzarella. Lower the heat to keep the sauce from boiling.

Add the chicken and red pepper slices to the sauce. Stir frequently and keep and eye on the heat so it doesn't boil. Drain the cooked pasta and stir it together with the sauce.

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Here goes my mother-in-laws recipe originally made with tuna, then she tweaked it by using a can of chicken. It quickly became my favorite meal to request for my birthday dinner every year, for about 13 years in a row.

Chicken Cheese Crescents

• 2 cups Chicken, cooked and chopped 
• 1 can Cream of Chicken Soup (Homemade version found here, of course I tweak that too) 
• 1 can crescent rolls 
• 1 1/2 inches of velveeta cheese 
• 1/2 soup can of milk 

Mix chicken with 5 tbsp cream of chicken soup and about 1/2 inch chunk of velveeta cut into small cubes. In a microwave safe dish (I use an 8x8 square baking dish) add remainder of chicken soup, 1/2 can of milk, and 1 inch velveeta cubed. Microwave on high 3 minutes until melted. Unroll crescent rolls into individual triangles, divide chicken mixture into each one and roll up starting at big side and roll to small point. Place rolls into cheesy 8x8. Bake 375 for about 30-40 minutes until brown and bubbly.

Chicken Cheese Crescents can be made a few days in advance and put in the fridge, or even frozen up to a week. They can be made using grilled chicken, canned chicken or rotisserie chicken. It can easily be doubled in a 9x13.

There ya have it, 2 more recipes and some tips.