Sunday, February 28, 2010

Why do I even start with a recipe?

I found a recipe in Cooking Light magazine. I wanted to try it but decided I would make some of my changes. In the end, it was WAY different than the original recipe. Here are the ingredients I used.

8 oz chicken breast
8 oz elbow macaroni
2 Tablespoons of flour
2 Tablespoons of light butter
3 cups of skim milk
2/3 cup reduced fat cream of mushroom soup (undiluted)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups shredded multi-cheese blend (like 4 Mexican blend)
3/4 shredded Colby jack cheese
cooking spray
1/2 bag of frozen peas
head of broccoli

I had some leftover grilled chicken breast (already cooked) and some smoked chicken and pork (thanks to my husband). I chopped that up and threw it in a pan with the chopped up broccoli and 1/2 bag of frozen peas. I also cooked the macaroni according to the box directions. When it was all cooked and hot I mixed it up in a big bowl.
Meanwhile, I made the sauce. I started with the butter and flour. I cooked it in a sauce pan for 2 minutes. In a bowl I mixed the cream of mushroom soup and milk. I slowly added the milk mixture to the pan and brought it to a boil for about 3 minutes to thicken it. I removed from the heat for 4 minutes. Then stirred in the garlic powder, salt, dill and the 1 1/2 cup of multi-cheese blend. It turned into like a white cream/cheese sauce.
I poured it over the meat, veggie and macaroni mixture. I put the mixture in a 8 inch square baking dish (after I sprayed it with PAM). I topped it with 3/4 Colby jack cheese. I put in under the broiler for about 5 minutes.

It yields 4 humongous servings. I am guessing it is about 600-650 calories each. I was not too specific in my measurements and I deviated from the recipe quite a bit. But it is still pretty healthy and very hearty.
Verdicts
Me: Yum, yum. I liked it alot. It was like a creamy casserole. Normally I do not like that sort of thing but this one was good. I kind of want to call it "crap in a pan." But good crap.
Hubby: "This is even better than the last one. If we owned a restaurant this would be on the menu." Cleaned his plate.
The original recipe did not have any veggies in it. I have to sneak them into hubby's food. Most people have to do this for their children. I have to do it for my 37 year-old husband. Okay, I have procrastinated long enough (like ALL DAY), I need to work on some report cards. Hope you all had a great weekend!

13 comments:

Johanna at The Baker Twins said...

Next time, you should make it vegetarian...

Christine said...

vegetarian!...that's what chicken is for dangit...lol.
Looks great.
Crap in a pan.
Have to try it.
Have a great night.

Miz said...

LAUGHED HARD as I think we are married to the same man.
except mine is 41 :)

Sevenbeads said...

I think it looks pretty darn good!

antgirl said...

I used to have to do the same. Somewhere along the line he adjusted. I gave him a stern talking to one night, me thinks. LOL

Crys said...

Can you ever go wrong with pasta with cheese sprinkled on top? Looks yummy!

Crys said...

Can you ever go wrong with pasta with cheese sprinkled on top? Looks yummy!

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to swing by and let you know that I had to redo my blog, so I've relocated :)

Now...I need to catch up on a lot of reading...

135by2012 said...

I gave you a Creative Blogger Award! Check out my blog post for more info!
http://fattypatty-nomore.blogspot.com/

Jen said...

This recipe looks great! I'm going to try this. This would be something my kids would enjoy. Thank you for sharing.

Jen said...

This recipe looks great! I'm going to try this. This would be something my kids would enjoy. Thank you for sharing.

wildfluffysheep said...

lol. good! make your own recipes. i likes it.
looks yummy.

love that your not specific with measurements. im like that when i bake!

lmao @ sneaking in veggies for your hubby. too funny.

my weekend was awesome :P thanks,

Corletta said...

That sure did look yummy!