Tag: pasta

Chicken Nugget Casserole

Casseroles are always fun to me, but I like the variety of different textures and flavors. This dish has good variety and tastes like chicken parmasean and pasta. The chicken has it’s own flavor, the pasta has it’s own texture, the cheese adds a bit more savory flavor to the dish, and the dices tomatoes added more fresh flavor and additional texture. My chicken nuggets are always precooked, but your best bet would be to bake them early if you are nervous about them being cooked through, or you can bake for double the recommended time on your package. My nuggets said to bake for 15-20 minutes, so I baked them for 40. This dish created 4 1/2 adult sized meals.

  1. Heat a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add 8 oz Farfalle, and boil for 10-15 minutes until al dents. Strain and place into a 7 x 10 casserole dish.
  2. Heat oven to 350 F.
  3. Add to the pasta 10-15 frozen chicken nuggets and mix. In a large sauce pan, add 1 jar of pasta sauce and 1 can of diced tomatoes. Heat until hot and bubbling.
  4. Pour hot sauce over your pasta. Cover with 1 1/2 cup mozzarella, then bake for 40 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before eating.
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Macaroni Salad With Tuna

My mom started making this version of macaroni salad when my brother and I were little. We used to only make egg based macaroni salad, but then my mom found a recipe for imitation crab salad, and from there it became a tuna salad since tuna is a lot cheaper than even imitation crab. The tuna gives the macaroni salad a light flavor that is refreshing in the summer. We’ve also added celery to this in the past, especially if you or your family doesn’t like the flavor of onion.

  1. Boil 1 1/2 cup macaroni until al dente. Strain pasta and rinse with cold water.
  2. Transfer into large serving bowl. Add 1 1/2 cup mayo, 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard, 2 tsp garlic powder, 1 can of strained tuna, and 1/2 cup diced onion. Stir.
  3. Serve right away or refrigerate before serving.
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Mini Manicotti With Lasagna Noodles

Manicotti is a classic Italian dish. Last week I had a family member pass away, so to be able to do something productive, my mom and I made several meals to take as a gift. Besides bread and other family classics, we made lasagna. We had extra of everything, so I decided to make Manicotti as a different form of lasagna. I did make this dish with a meat sauce I had left from the lasagna, but you can choose to do whatever you wish. I also forgot this time when making them, but in the future, it would taste good to add an additional tablespoon of Italian seasoning. The green would be nice for the dish and the cheese would be a bit more varied with some seasoning.

  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Break 6 Lasagna noodles in half using the edge of the counter.
  2. Generously salt water. Add broken noodles one at a time and stir continuously to keep from sticking together. Boil for 10 minutes until noodles are flexible.
  3. Rinse noodles and submerge in cold water. Set at your assembly area.
  4. Grab a 7 x 11 baking dish.
  5. Mix together in a bowl, 1 cup of small curd cottage cheese, and 1 cup mozzarella. Also, brown 1/2 pound of ground beef, mix in 1/2 jar of spaghetti sauce and set aside.
  6. Begin assembly by placing a cooled noodle in the bottom of your baking dish. Place 2-3 Tbsp of cheese mixture near one end of the noodle. Roll up the noodle starting on the side with the cheese mixture. Place in open spot in dish.
  7. Repeat step 6 until there is no more room in your dish, or until you run out of noodles. Pour over top the sauce and meat mixture. Spread evenly over the noodles. Top with 1 cup of mozzarella.
  8. Heat oven to 350 F. Bake for 30-40 minutes until cheese is melted and browning. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
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One Pan Creamy Chicken Pasta

This one pan dish is full of flavor! Mustard and Italian dressing make up the base of this dish, so expect lots of flavors. Because these flavors are so different, every bite tastes different, and since these is no marinade on the chicken, it has a nature chicken flavor with the mustard Italian sauce. This dish is very flavor heavy. If you are like me and your taste buds can get over whelmed on a flavor after a while, be sure to serve this with a side. I would recommend a fresh salad with ranch dressing and topped with some shredded cheese. As with any dish, add the final ingredients slowly and make sure you taste to see if you like the flavor. For example, the white wine vinegar is to cut the sweetness in the Italian dressing, but if your Italian dressing is homemade or not sweet, then do not add the vinegar.

  1. Heat a large dutch oven over medium high heat.
  2. Dice up 1 chicken breast, or 2-3 chicken tenders.
  3. Add 3 Tbsp oil to the dutch oven and add your diced up chicken. Cook chicken for 3 minutes on the first side without touching until time to flip. Cook the chicken until there is no raw spots on the exterior.
  4. Once chicken is lightly cooked, add 1 small can of diced up mushrooms, and add 2 Tbsp Italian dressing. Stir and cook until mushrooms are hot.
  5. Add 4 cups water, 3 chicken bouillon cubes, 1 Tbsp red pepper flakes, and 1 Tbsp mustard powder. Bring to a boil and stir in cubes til dissolved. Add 1 1/2 cup of your pasta of choice. Stir and continue to cook for 15-20 minutes until noodles are cooked to al dente and there is only a little liquid left, you may have to adjust your heat while cooking.
  6. Once noodles are cooked, add 3 Tbsp Dijon mustard, 1/4 cup Italian dressing, 3 tsp white wine vinegar, and a splash of milk. Add any diced up fresh veggies if desired. Stir together and cook until just below simmer. Remove from heat, and let cool 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve with a side salad.
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Pasta with Tilapia

One pan meals are great, and this meal is a great option if you have lots of pasta and lots of hungry people. This dish is flavorful and requires very inexpensive ingredients. This recipe gave us 6 servings of this pasta, and we only used one tilapia fillet! Everything else was just herbs, oils, and salt! I would recommend adding a frozen veggie to the dish after you’ve broken up the fish or, like we did, serve it with a side of veggies or salad. This is a heavy dish with an oil base, so a fresh flavor is needed to balance it out!

  1. Heat medium sauce pan of water to a boil. Add 12 oz of Rotini, boil until al dente, 12-15 minutes. Reserve 1/4 cup pasta water. Strain noodles.
  2. In a large dutch oven, bring 1/3 cup oil, and 1/4 cup pasta water to shimmering. Add 2 Tbsp garlic powder. Cook for 2 minutes. Add to oil, 1 tbsp oragano, 1 tbsp red pepper flakes, 1 tbsp basil, and 2 tbsp parsely. Heat through spices.
  3. Add 1 tilapia fillet. Cook on each side for 2 minutes. Break up tilapia into large pieces.
  4. Add strained pasta to sauce, and stir. Add 3 Tbsp salted butter, and add about 1 1/2 Tbsp salt. Stir till butter is melted. Remove from heat. Top each bowl with parmasean.
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