Penne Rustica Remake

Lately I cannot seem to satisfy my craving for penne pasta, until today!!!  This super yummy, super simple remake of Macaroni Grill's Penne Rustica is one you'll want to remake again and again.  This is the perfect dish for your left over grilled chicken!

Ingredients:
1lb penne pasta
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
1 cup finely grated good parmesan
6 ounces grilled chicken breasts, diced (1 large breast or 2 small)


Gratinata Sauce:
1 tablespoon butter
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 small shallot, minced
1/2 teaspoon chopped rosemary
1/2 cup marsala cooking wine
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon dill
1/8 teaspoon white pepper

Prep:
1. Mince garlic and shallot

Directions:
1.In a medium sauce pan melt 1/4 cup butter over low heat. Whisk in flour and cook 1 minute, whisking constantly. Gradually whisk in milk; cook over medium heat, whisking until mixture thickens and is bubbly. Remove from heat. Add cheese, stirring until cheese melts and sauce is smooth.  Set aside.
2. Prepare Gratinata sauce - In a separate small sauce pan, saute 1 tablespoon butter, garlic, shallot and rosemary until garlic/shallot soften.  Add Marsala wine and reduce by one-third.  Add remaining ingredients, reduce by half of the original volume.  Once reduced, whisk slowly into cheese sauce.
3. Prepare pasta al dente and reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta water.
4. In a large bowl, combine chicken and cheese mixture with the cooked pasta and reserved pasta water.
5. Pour into a large casserole dish.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.
6. To serve, sprinkle with more parmesan cheese and paprika.

Loosely based on the Copycat Macaroni Grill's Penne Rustica blogged by The Girl Who Eat Everything

Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Loving Pinterest recipe finds so much that I've been trying a lot more new recipes lately.. Of course I can't just follow it the recipes to the 'T' so I'm going to share the changes I made that turned out delicious!  You can follow my pinterest activity at pinterest.com/tracyinterest

This Tortilla soup is so light, refreshing and super comforting!  Perfect to share with a friend or eat on all week long...  There is only a slight spiciness that warms the back of your throat, but is cooled by the avocado and sour cream, with a bit of the crunchiness from the chips and veggies; makes this a perfect meal! Super healthy too!

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 onion, ruff dice
1 red bell pepper, ruff dice
1 box low-sodium chicken broth
2 cans Ro-Tel (I used 1 can lime & cilantro, and 1 can of original)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp dried cilantro
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

tortilla chips
fresh avocado
green onion
low-fat sour cream or greek yogurt
shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese

Prep:
1. Chop onion and bell pepper

Directions:
1. Put onion, bell pepper, chicken breast, beans, rotel, corn, chicken broth, water, and spices in Crockpot and stir to mix.
2. Cook on high 6-7 hours or low 8-9 hours.
3. Before serving remove the chicken breasts from soup and shred, then return chicken to Crockpot, stir to combine.
4. To serve, put a few tortilla chips in the bottom of a bowl, ladle soup over tortilla chips. Top with diced avocado, green onion, shredded cheddar cheese, and a dollop of sour cream, and more crushed tortilla chips.

This recipe is my take on the Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe from the "Chef in Training" blog

Rigatoni De Licious

This recipe is my take on Maggiano's Rigatoni D, but with a healthy substitution of Greek yogurt in place of half the cream the original recipe called for.  The yogurt makes the sauce so creamy and helps it stick to the pasta wonderfully. I am considering excluding the cream all together next time I make it.  This dish turned out so good, I would definitely use it for entertaining or to take to a friend.  The chicken tenderloins are so tender they fall apart.  This dish reheats wonderfully too, just stir in a splash of Marsala to loosen up the sauce if needed, prior to reheating.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 small shallot, minced
1/2 teaspoon chopped rosemary

1/2 teaspoon dill
1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1/2 cup Marsala cooking wine
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 

1 yellow onion, small dice

16 ounces baby portobello mushrooms
3 garlic cloves, grated
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper 

1 lb chicken breast tenderloins, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 lb rigatoni pasta 

1/2 cup non-fat Greek yogurt (Fage 0%)
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped 
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated 
2 tablespoons garlic butter (butter at room temperature combined with 2 garlic cloves, grated)
grated Parmesan cheese for garnish 

Prep:

1. Diced onion and clean mushroom caps with damp paper towel.  

2. Cut chicken into 1 inch pieces.  

3. Make garlic butter and put back in refrigerator to harden.

Directions:

In separate small Sauce Pan: Melt 1tsp butter; saute shallot and garlic over med-low heat until soft.  Add rosemary, dill, 1/2tsp kosher salt, white pepper; then stir as you add Marsala and Djion mustard.  Bring to boil and reduce to simmer over med-low heat.  Meanwhile in large sauce pan: Heat olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat.  Add onion, butter and a pinch of salt.  Stirring to combine, let onions soften, about 2 mins.  Then add mushrooms and garlic, let cook for 2 mins. Then reduce heat to medium-low, add salt and pepper and cook for additional 2-3 mins until mushrooms have softened and let out their juices.

Add chicken and stir to combine. Then add Marsala mixture, chicken stock and white wine. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to simmer over medium-low heat and cook until liquid is reduced, 8-10 mins.  In a large pot, cook rigatoni until al dente in heavily salted water, per package instructions, and add into chicken mixture.  Remove chicken mixture from heat and stir in heavy cream, yogurt, Parmesan cheese, garlic butter and 2 tablespoons of Marsala wine.  Top with Fresh Basil.